Documentary is more than film on a screen. De Brakke Grond is the heart of IDFA DocLab: Shared Realities, featuring an exhibition of more than 20 interactive artworks exploring how realities are created, influence one another, and are shared. From games and VR to installations that defy easy categorization, some works invite you into an intimate, individual experience, while others unfold through interaction with others or simply by watching. Explore the exhibition at your own pace and decide where to spend your time.
Is the VR Gallery showing as sold out online? You can still visit the rest of the exhibition! The VR Gallery also has one free walk-in spot, for which you can queue on site.
The Archive Arcade brings back three works from previous DocLab editions that had become inaccessible due to outdated technology. You can drop in without a separate ticket.
During the DocLab Playrooms, meet artists, try out prototypes, and join the conversation. On November 14, 16 and 17, you can drop by anytime between 3:00 and 7:00 PM, with no fixed start times.
Admission to the exhibition is free, but you do need an entry ticket. You can get one online in advance or on site using your smartphone.
Some experiences require a separate ticket and have limited capacity. Check which works require advance booking here and plan your visit accordingly.
Explore the full selection of works featured at DocLab here.
Explore the VR Gallery selection here.
Explore the Archive Arcade selection here.
Beyond de Brakke Grond, the DocLab program continues at other locations across Amsterdam:
- POLYMORF's Microbiome Restaurant at @droog — 8-minute walk
- Dries Verhoeven's Orgasmagoria at Casa Rosso — 5-minute walk
- ARTIS-Planetarium Fulldome evening program on Nov. 14 and 17 — 25-minute walk or 14 minutes by tram
- Tamara Shogaolu’s The Invisible Woman: an Immersive Opera in the Making on Nov. 15 at Nationale Opera & Ballet – 12 minute walk
Nine veteran New York theater artists each have two conversations: one in person with artist Carrie Sijia Wang and one with a text-based chatbot impersonating her. Both are presented simultaneously in this video installation.
Artist Noa Jansma seeks an earthly afterlife in this installation presenting recordings of microscopic life in her father’s grave. Visitors can also taste root vegetables grown in that same soil if they choose.
On a deliberately paced walk through fragmented virtual spaces, a semi-autobiographical story unfolds about belonging and grief.
The closer you get to your digital reflection in this video installation, the more details you see in the hundreds of photographs that make up that reflection. An archive of aerial bombardments from 2025 turns your body into an index of destruction.
In this VR experience, South African multi-disciplinary artist Natalie Paneng invites you into the three worlds that make up her artistic practice: a virtual gallery, her studio, and the playful dreamworld that fuels her work.
The resistance of times past comes back to life on Spuistraat in central Amsterdam, where gentrification has hit hard. Through augmented reality, the countercultures of the past—from squatters to the Kabouters—reclaim the public space.
