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Date: 1 December 2025
Category: City Deal, Digital Innovation
People are being invited to experience the ‘StoryDreamer’ prototype this December – a new, immersive, public installation exploring Belfast’s diverse stories through imagination, memory and creativity.
Open daily from 10am–6pm until 10 December at 2 Royal Avenue (and until 9pm on Thursday 4 December as part of Late Night Art), StoryDreamer is free to the public, and there is no need to book, however, users must be aged 18+ to take part.
StoryDreamer has been developed collaboratively by Hamilton Robson, Nerve Centre and 1 Up Studios in response to the Augment the City industry competition which is funded by Belfast Region City Deal and Belfast City Council.
Luke McNeice from Hamilton Robson explains: “StoryDreamer brings to life the voices and experiences of Belfast's people through film, sound, archive material and digital interaction. We’ve used cutting edge technology to celebrate how powerful storytelling can be in connecting people and sparking curiosity.
“People are invited to reflect on their own experiences and contribute to Belfast’s growing story by sharing personal memories, hopes, and dreams for the city’s future. StoryDreamer is fun to use, and it gives an exciting glimpse of how we can harness cutting-edge tech to enhance cultural and tourism experiences.”
StoryDreamer offers two engaging experiences:
- Meet the holographic story gatherer — powered by advanced AI technology, the holographic StoryDreamer guides you through a storytelling journey, inspiring you to craft and share your own story.
- Explore a galaxy of stories — in an interactive space, projection mapping and motion gestures allow you to unlock a universe of interlinked tales, revealing rare archive films and imagery that showcase Belfast’s creative spirit.
Chair of Belfast City Council’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, Councillor Natasha Brennan, said: “I’m excited to see people try out StoryDreamer, developed thanks to our ‘Augment the City’ industry competition which challenged local innovators to explore how immersive technologies could aid story collection, particularly from lesser heard voices across our city. We’re so impressed by the resulting prototypes – they’re giving us an insight into how immersive technologies could enhance world-class visitor attractions of the future, including our own Belfast Stories public space, visitor experience and creative hub, which will open on Royal Avenue in 2030.
“It’s really timely that StoryDreamer is being showcased at 2 Royal Avenue while we’re displaying the updated design proposals for Belfast Stories. We’re encouraging people to share their feedback on them, as part of our public consultation, before we submit a planning application next spring. I’d encourage people to pop in, give StoryDreamer a go, and while they’re in 2 Royal Avenue, check out the Belfast Stories designs and have their say on them.
“Belfast Region City Deal is making significant investments in our local tourism offer – and it’s also enhancing our innovation capacity. So it made perfect sense to combine the two. We want Belfast Stories to offer cutting-edge experiences which will help us achieve standout on the global tourism stage – and I think collaborating with some of our most exciting creative digital companies will help make that a reality.”
The Augment the City Challenge Fund is part of Belfast City Council’s XR Belfast programme which provides a range of funding, skills development and business support to people working in Belfast’s innovation and creative industries sectors to help build their capacity in using and exploiting emerging technologies.
StoryDreamer archive content has been supplied from both Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).
For more information on Augment the City, visit www.smartbelfast.city or the Belfast Region City Deal, visit www.belfastregioncitydeal.co.uk and on Belfast Stories, visit www.belfastcity.gov.uk/belfaststories