Foshan Tales Experience
For the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026 in Dalian, Foshan Tales, originally created for the Lingnan Xiandi Heritage Festival, was reimagined through an immersive multisensory digital experience. Presented as part of Beyond the Frame, a digital exhibition curated by the WEF Arts and Culture team, led by Joseph Fowler, and developed in partnership with AR company Augmento, the project expands the material presence of the sculpture into a new educational and interactive dimension. The integrated AR layer brings the stories of the four Chinese panels to life through narration by Adalberto Lonardi, animated visual storytelling, and a traditional soundscape. This digital extension deepens the educational scope of the physical artwork, making its narratives more accessible, engaging, and inclusive for a global audience.
Year: 2026
Commissioner: World Economic Forum
Location: Dalina, China
Materials: mosaic glass, steel, AR
Dimensions: 1300 x 1600 mm
Collaborators: Augmento
“Together, Beyond the Frame and Foshan Tales illuminate a central truth: the future of culture mirrors the future of society. It is hybrid, adaptive and participatory. Innovation and heritage are not opposing forces, but interdependent ones. Technology does not replace human connection; it amplifies it.”
Joseph Fowler, Head of Arts and Culture, WEF
“What does art become when it transcends walls and permanence, when it is no longer something we look at, but something we move through, shape and experience? Beyond the Frame emerges in this moment not merely as an exhibition, but as a proposition: that art is no longer fixed, but alive.”
Joseph Fowler, Head of Arts and Culture, WEF
