Habitats. Extended Nature

Habitats. Extended Nature is an immersive sensory experience that takes you through the diversity of ecosystems on planet Earth on a journey across the five continents. Combining the physical and digital worlds in a single layer, without leaving the Gaiás Centre Museum, Habitats transports us to nine destinations where we can live and interact with animals and plants recreated thanks to virtual reality and augmented reality technologies.

From the Sonoran Desert in the United States to the Australian Great Barrier Reef, from the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic to the Ceza Cave in Courel, on our adventure, we will come across elephants, turtles, whales, salamanders and many other species that we will have the privilege of observing closely in their own habitats, thanks to the virtual reality glasses.

Accessible to children from 9 years of age, the installation is designed as an immersive mixed reality experience, that is, it combines virtual and augmented reality components with scenography and environmental elements. With the glasses on, the architecture of the Cidade da Cultura does not disappear, but something else emerges over it. Carlos Seijo, director of the Galician studio Maxina, specialising in visual effects, animation and immersive content, is responsible for the conceptual idea and development of the project.

Habitats. Extended Nature offers us an inspiring, transcendent nature with vibrant visual power, allowing us to safely explore inaccessible places, making the invisible visible, and even bringing extinct species back to life. A new and exciting way to understand the inherent complexity of ecosystems and life on our planet, as well as humans’ ability to influence them.

Tickets for Habitats. Extended Nature can be purchased at a price of €3 (+ booking fee, applicable discounts) at Ataquilla.com and at the Gaiás Centre Museum. Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by a responsible adult, who must also purchase a ticket.

The installation is open from 5 December 2023 to 19 May 2024, from Tuesday to Sunday (except on 24 and 31 December 2023, when the Gaiás Centre Museum is closed). There will be eight sessions each day: four in the morning (between 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m.) and four in the afternoon (between 4.00 and 8.00 p.m.), each lasting approximately 40 minutes. Up to 10 people will be able to experience the exposition simultaneously in each session.

From January, there will also be free educational visits for schools, from Tuesday to Friday mornings, for groups of students from 5th grade of primary school onwards. More information and bookings in the Cidade da Cultura's Educational Programme 2023-2024.

Carlos Seijo - Maxina

Carlos Seijo (A Coruña, 1980) is a Galician audiovisual artist with a career that stems from aesthetics and computer-generated graphics to merge, in his latest projects, with the emerging technologies of extended and virtual reality. He currently runs the Galician studio Maxina, founded with his sister Noela Seijo and specialising in visual effects, 3D animation and immersive content.

At Maxina he carries out projects for Galician and Spanish institutions and companies related to science, art, innovation and culture, such as Afundación, Netflix, Ferrovial, Xunta de Galicia and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, among others. With Olas del sur he achieved international recognition as a finalist in the Hollywood Music Awards 2015. Today, his interest is focused on the creation of immersive experiences in the museum space, with a creative drive closely linked to virtual and mixed reality technologies and artificial intelligence.

Maxina is also responsible for the design and programming of the virtual reality of the Galiverso experiences, a project developed in collaboration with the Xunta de Galicia through which it creates an immersive support for the virtualisation of Galician cultural heritage.