Augmented reality meets live theatre

Enter the quest - play along at home

Discover a parallel universe of talking magical creatures.

Combining augmented reality with live theatre, Dragon Matrix, was an immersive outdoor augmented reality adventure created by engineers and artists working together.

During the autumn of 2017, a wizard, his magical cat, trolls, a fairy glen and even a path of spiders took up residence in the dark woods of Monikie Country Park, in Scotland, and visitors were invited to embark on a quest to track six dragon stones, stolen from the Museum of Dragons.

In order to take the experience beyond the live adventure environment, The Space supported Vision Mechanics to devise an app which is designed to enhance the digital storytelling element and expand audience reach online. As users wander around the forest, animated elements are triggered by scanning the markers within the forest to reveal a new augmented reality animation and storyline.

Dragon Matrix cat and stars

The in-app magical creatures can be scanned and snapped for social media, friends and family and has been built and designed by Lanarkshire-based Colin Purves of itsalivedesign.co.uk.

2016 was Scotland’s year of Innovation, Architecture and Design, a timely moment for Dragon Matrix, which placed Vision Mechanics at the heart of this initiative. The Dragon Matrix live experience was supported by EventScotland, part of the VisitScotland Events Directorate, ANGUSalive and Creative Scotland.

Vision Mechanics was shortlisted for a Scottish Thistle Award (Scotland’s ‘tourism industry Oscars’) following the success of DragonQuest, one of three finalists in the ‘Best Cultural Event or Festival’ category.

About this artist

Vision Mechanics has 20 years of experience in running professional theatre productions, specialising in immersive site specific work and large puppetry.  Their events are staged across Scotland with a strong emphasis on cross-artform collaborations.

Dragon Matrix follows the success of the inaugural DragonQuest, which, in 2015, attracted over 5,000 visitors.