A new large-format climate engagement installation, the Lumisphere Experience, has opened at Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Tomorrow. The project combines 360-degree projection mapping, guided audio design, AI image generation and narrative-led visitor flow to encourage participants to imagine their ideal ecological future. Developed by the US studios Visions2030 and Minds Over Matter, the installation aims to involve one billion participants globally by 2030.
The concept positions imaginative thinking as a catalyst for climate engagement. Instead of focusing solely on risk or loss, the experience encourages visitors to picture preferred futures and then relate those visions to practical action paths.
Three-Dome Structure Provides Sequential Interpretive Journey
The installation comprises three interconnected domes totalling 750 square metres. Each dome supports a distinct stage of the visitor journey, with the progression designed to move from orientation to deep sensory immersion and finally to active creation.
In the Orientation dome, visitors gather around a small illuminated globe referred to as a digital campfire. Headphones provide narration while shifting visuals are projected across the dome interior. This opening sequence acknowledges climate risk but frames imagination as a tool for possibility and agency.
The second dome, the Immersion dome, adopts a more meditative tone. Visitors recline beneath expansive projection mapping sequences accompanied by an audio track designed to encourage reflective thinking. The content was developed to counter climate anxiety by prompting calm engagement rather than overwhelm.
Custom AI Platform Generates Personalised Eco-Futures
The third dome, the Creation dome, functions as an interactive lab. Tablets and large-format screens line the environment, displaying AI-generated environments developed in real time. A custom AI system prompts visitors with structured questions about environmental qualities, desired landscapes, atmospheric conditions and imagined technologies that shape their preferred future world.
The AI visualisations are then displayed on three metre tall LED panels circling the space. Participants can also download the generated imagery, giving the installation a take-home element that supports extended engagement.
For the wider visitor experience sector, the approach shows how AI can be woven into narrative design without replacing interpretive intention. The prompts, spatial setting and surrounding assets control the thematic frame, while AI provides personalised variation within a curated structure.
Touring Format Designed for Long-Term Global Reach
The Lumisphere Experience made its initial public appearance at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles in September 2023 as part of the Earth Edition festival. Following refinement, the installation was installed outside the Museum of Tomorrow for its October opening, where it remains until 19 December. From there, it is scheduled to begin a five-year international tour.
For operators and cultural institutions, the touring framework offers a demonstration of how large immersive installations can be designed for mobility while retaining cinematic projection, structured storytelling and interactive components.
Implications for Climate Communication and Immersive Practice
The project’s creators emphasise that the installation focuses on possibility rather than fear. This reflects a broader shift in climate communication strategies, which increasingly incorporate optimism, creativity and participatory design. For museums and science centres, the Lumisphere model provides insight into how climate topics can be reframed through emotionally supportive, visually rich environments.
The installation also reinforces the expanding role of multisensory and AI-supported experiences in public education and cultural programming. As the global tour begins, the Lumisphere Experience is likely to influence future climate-themed exhibitions, large-scale audiovisual environments and participatory installations across the experience economy.
