Earths to Come: A Deeply Immersive VR Experience at Wales Millennium Centre
If you’re looking for a truly unique creative activity to do in Cardiff—something beyond the usual galleries, gigs, and winter pop-ups—then Earths to Come at the Wales Millennium Centre absolutely deserves a place at the top of your list. As an arts and culture writer, I’m lucky enough to be invited to experience all sorts of inventive work, but this VR installation stopped me in my tracks. It’s rare to encounter something that asks you to slow down, switch off, and fully surrender to the moment. Earths to Come does exactly that.
Currently showing at BOCS at the Wales Millennium Centre until 11 January 2026, the piece combines virtual reality, spatialised sound and mesmerising animation to create a poetic, almost meditative journey based on an eight-line poem by Emily Dickinson. It’s one of the most quietly powerful creative experiences we’ve had in Cardiff in years.
“I felt gently held inside the artwork”
Stepping Into a VR Poem
The experience begins the moment you take your seat in the communal VR theatre, a welcome contrast to the isolated, headset-in-a-corner format many VR pieces still rely on. As the headset settles over your eyes, the outside world simply fades. No phones, no whispered conversations behind you, no rustling coats: just you, breath, sound, and atmosphere.
What unfolds is a painterly, dreamlike world, as if Dickinson’s poem has been pulled apart and re-stitched with animated strokes, textured pencil lines and glowing fragments of light. The visuals hand-made and intimate, in stark contrast to the high-gloss CGI often associated with virtual reality. It’s art first and technology second—which is precisely what makes it so affecting.
Completely Wrapped in Sound
What struck me most was the sound. Earths to Come is guided by spatialised audio, meaning the music doesn’t just play, it surrounds, moves and breathes with you. With speakers placed throughout the room, the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth seem to hover in the air, their voices folding into inti figgis-vizueta’s haunting score. At moments the sound felt close enough to touch; at others it swelled outward into an immense sonic landscape.
This is where the power of VR truly shines. On a normal stage or screen I would simply be an observer. Here, I felt gently held inside the artwork, as though I’d momentarily stepped out of Cardiff Bay and into the inner space of a poem.
Pushing the Boundaries of Creative Technology
Earths to Come premiered at the 2024 Venice Biennale Cinema Immersive, and it’s clear why. Every element, from Rose Bond’s direction to Max Borghesi’s spatial audio, Zak Margolis’ composite artistry and Randall Squires’ engineering—pushes beyond traditional artistic boundaries. This is VR not as a novelty, nor as a video game add-on, but as a serious creative medium capable of intimacy, quietude and emotional depth.
Bond herself is known for breaking frames, literally and figuratively. Her practice, rooted in expanded cinema and large-scale urban projection, gives her a distinctive eye for transforming space. Here, she turns VR into something contemplative and communal rather than hyperactive or isolating.
Why This Is a Must-See Creative Experience in Cardiff
Cardiff has no shortage of things to do, but it’s rare to find an experience that feels this fresh, this thoughtful and this transportive. Whether you’re an art lover, a poetry fan, a VR enthusiast or simply someone in search of an inspiring activity in Cardiff, Earths to Come is well worth your time.
It isn’t a passive experience. It’s one that asks you to be present, really present. And in today’s endlessly distracted world, that feels like a gift.
Experience Earths to Come at Wales Millennium Centre
You can experience Earths to Come for yourself at:
BOCS, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay
Until 11 January 2026 (Pay what you can)
If you're looking for creative things to do in Cardiff, or if you're simply curious about how virtual reality can expand the way we engage with art, this is an unmissable opportunity.
Step inside a poem. Let the world fall away. And allow yourself, just for a moment, to be completely immersed.
To find out more about Earths to come, click here!
