House of Fragile Dreams

An Immersive Journey into the Beauty of Melancholy.

Concept & Theme

Core Idea:

A wistful exploration of the beauty of melancholy through immersive art installations that blend physical craftsmanship with digital technology.

Overview:
The House of Fragile Dreams is a curated journey through a collection of Studio McGuire’s existing works — reimagined, recontextualized, and woven into a singular immersive experience.

Emotional Focus:
Melancholy as beauty, fragility as strength. A contemplative, dreamlike journey through the emotional landscape of the human soul.

What It Explores:

The intersection of beauty and melancholy
The delicate balance between reality and illusion
The unconscious mind as a dream house

Narrative

Story Arc:

“This is the house where dreams go when they are lost, unfinished, or left behind. Each room a chamber of the unconscious — fragile, flickering, and waiting to be remembered.”
Audiences thread their own emotional path — as explorers and dreamers — through a curated sequence of eclectic immersive rooms.

Installations along the Journey (see videos below):

Ophelia: A holographic reimagining of Shakespeare's tragic heroine
Sirens: Mermaids confronting oceanic pollution
The Hunter: A silent fable of survival and compassion
Ascendance: An astronaut's solitary drift through space
A Fragile World: A paper-crafted realm reflecting fading memories
Botanica: Time-lapsed floral projections symbolizing life's transience

Specimen: Holographic fairies trapped in jars

The Icebook: A projection-mapped pop-up book narrating a haunting tale

Ophelia

"A show stopping homage to Millais"

Financial Times

"Striking....Probably the best thing in the show"

BBC Radio 4, Saturday Review

‘Ophelia’ is an emotive projection installation in which Shakespeare’s famous character has been recreated as a hologram, elegantly poised during her last breaths in a tranquil water basin. Loop duration 3min.

Studio McGuire_Ophelia_Studio McGuire1.jpg

Sirens

Sirens is a beautiful but haunting display of holographic projections into water featuring uncanny sea creatures and mermaids’ encounter with plastic waste and climate change. Created to signify the impact of climate change and plastic water pollution,‘Sirens’ suggests how even fairy-tale creatures could be affected by the climate crisis. Loop duration 15min.

The Hunter
Winner of the Samuel Becket Theatre Trust Award, UK

'The Hunter is an intricately cut paper diorama that comes to life through projected animations, music and sound effects. When the filigree paper model illuminates, tiny shadow figures appear to depict a melancholy silent fable.

Gallery installation that tells a 15 min narrative.

Ascendance

'Ascendance' is a life size holographic projection of an astronaut onto gauze set in a church. Severed from the mothership an astronaut drifts through a poetic cosmos of vibrant flower, fluttering butterflies, and wistful hallucinations, as oxygen level dwindle.

Loop duration 7min. This piece can be projected onto gauze or developed for a 360 space with a projectable ceiling.

A Fragile World

We want to develop Grains of Recollection, which was originally conceived as a VR experience, into an immersive 360° room that surrounds audiences in an exquisitely crafted and fragile world made of paper.

The original VR version (see video above) was inspired by a model maker living with Alzheimer’s who preserves her fading memories by recreating her life’s places in paper, but we want to open up the narrative to become a 10min contemplation on the fragility of life and the ephemeral nature of time.

We're in the process of negotiating the development of this piece with a UK commissioner.

Botanica

Botanica is a series of 3 projection works using flower time lapses: A dome projection, large frames with animated flower still lives and animated coffee table books.

Any of these 3 installations can be reconfigured into (a) new immersive space(s). Loop duration 1min - 4min.

Specimen

Specimen is a display cabinet filled with holographic fairies trapped in jars. Loop duration 1min, 8 jars.

The Icebook

The Icebook is the world's first projection mapped pop-up book, a show depicting a dark, silent fable through a combination of paper pop-ups, projection mapping and music. It has toured to 57 venues including art festivals, museums, galleries, theaters, conferences and cinemas in 12 countries on 3 continents. More than half a million people have seen the trailer online, and it has featured in a variety of international books, magazines and newspapers including Computer Arts, ELLE and the Guardian.

This work is not a walk-up installation, it is a seated show for 12 people to be watched in its entirety (15min). It needs to be operated by one trained member of staff and it can run every 30min.

Artist Vision & Impact Goals

"We aim to create spaces where melancholy is not shunned but embraced—a place where darkness and beauty come together to create mesmerising works of art that touch, prompt reflection and linger a little longer. Through the fusion of traditional craftsmanship and modern technology, we invite audiences to delve into an emotional journey."

Emotional: Invite contemplation, catharsis, and comfort in the shared experience of melancholy and beauty.

Social: Support conversations around the unseen emotional lives we all carry.

Takeaway: A renewed appreciation for the delicate balance of joy and melancholy— offering stillness and reflection as a counterpoint to the fast-paced, thrill-driven culture of today.

Experience

Audience Movement:
Visitors move from room to room at their own pace allowing personal pacing and reflection within each immersive space. A short poetic voice over acts as both interpreter and the subconscious guiding visitors from one room to the next.

Moving through the house mirrors an open ended yet guided journey through the unconscious.

Visual Language

Interplay between the tangible/physical and the virtual/digital
Highly detailed paper dioramas and handcrafted surfaces
Layered projection and holographic illusion
Contrast between monochromatic aesthetics and spectral color shifts
Sculptural light, translucent fabrics, shadowplay

Style References:

Pre-Raphaelite art
Victorian-era aesthetics
Surealism
Fairytale

Sound

Soundscape Description:
Each room is accompanied by an original, artwork-specific soundtrack, composed to remain distinct and self-contained. In the transitional spaces between rooms, poetic voiceovers unfold as narrative interludes, guiding visitors gently from one room to the next.

Role of Sound:
Enhances emotional resonance, guides and informs visitors, and deepens immersion.

Technology & Techniques

Projection mapping on sculptural and intricate paper forms
Holographic displays using gauze, water and glass

Spatial & Set Design

A labyrinthine arrangement of symbolic rooms and corridors
Controlled lighting and sound zones
Clear wayfinding, with ambient transitions and poetic narration

Scale:
Varies from intimate alcoves to expansive chambers, from miniature dioramas to large scale projections

Architectural Needs:

Controlled lighting environments
High ceilings for vertical projections
Soundproofing between installations
At least 8 spaces of varying scales

Venue:

Multi-room immersive venue
Found space, e.g. warehouse, church, factory
Multi-room art gallery/museum

Audience

Target audience:

Immersive Experience Seekers, Cultural & Art Enthusiasts, Emotionally Engaged Audiences, Wellbeing & Reflective Audiences, Festival & Touring Audiences

Engagement:
Primarily passive, encouraging contemplation.

Accessibility:

Optional seating in some rooms, wheelchair-accessible pathways

Technical Requirements

Space: ca. 500–700 sqm
Blackout environment with ceiling rigging points
High-definition projectors and spatial sound system
AV/lighting isolation between rooms
Power and network access per zone

Sound insulated rooms

Timeline

Research & Development: 3 months
Fabrication & Technical Integration: 3 months
Installation: 1 month
Exhibition Run: open ended, with intention to tour

Budget Overview

Estimated Costs:

Concept & Design, Artist Fee & Artist Install: £129,000
Excluding Fabrication, Build, Materials, Technology, Equipment, Logistics, Marketing

Partners / Collaborators / Team

Artistic Directors: Davy & Kristin McGuire
Sound Designer / Composer: Spesh Maloney

Writer: Christina Lewis
Lighting & Scenic Designer: tbc
Technical Producer: tbc
Narration / Voice Actor(s): Kristin McGuire

About Studio McGuire

‘What follows makes the jaw drop and the head whirl.’ The Times

Davy & Kristin McGuire are multi-award winning mixed reality artists, internationally renowned for their innovative explorations in immersive art, storytelling and digital projections.

Their array of awards includes the Helpmann Award for Best Visual Theatre Production, Innovation of the Year at the Museum and Heritage Awards, the Samuel Beckett Theatre Award, the Japan Space Design Award, and the Ginza Association Division Excellence Award.

Commissioned by international institutions such as The National Gallery of Singapore, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Barbican, UK City of Culture 2017, Canal+, Museums at Night, the Swedish Museum of Performing Arts, London International Mime Festival and the Projection Mapping Association of Japan to name a few, their work has garnered global critical acclaim.

They have created projects for Christian Dior in Shanghai, Kyoto, Tokyo and Paris, alongside prestigious installations at Harrods London and Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. Their collaborations with luxurious brands include Mikimoto in Tokyo, as well as projects for Courvoisier in France, Barneys New York and Elle China.

Their projects have toured to over 100 venues across 26 countries, with highlights including appearances at SXSW Texas, National Taichung Theatre in Taiwan, Perth International Arts Festival, the Barbican, Wales Millenium Centre, Macau Arts Festival and Hans Christian Andersen Museum among many, many others.

Davy and Kristin's artistic influence extends globally, with their video sculptures showcased and available for acquisition at international art fairs and galleries such as Woolff Gallery London, Wanrooij Gallery Amsterdam, Muriel Guepin Gallery New York, and CJS Gallery Amsterdam. Studio McGuire are also associates of Ridley Scott Creative Group.

Drawing on Davy’s background in theatre and Kristin’s career as a dancer for Cirque du Soleil and many other international companies, the couple love merging physical and digital worlds into beautiful immersive experiences.

‘Magical and exquisitely crafted, Davy and Kristin McGuire's universe is full of visual wonders.’ The Guardian