Creative studio creating immersive, theatrical experiences with technology in exciting spaces.

Based in Reykjavík, Iceland.

info@huldufugl.is

Fallax

VR Film
  1. In Progress
  2. Original Work
  3. Iceland / UK
vrShort-portfolio

A fantastical journey into the Icelandic highlands and beyond with two escaped convicts and their driver.

Performed by circus artists during lockdown, recorded using full-body motion capture.

This piece for realtime VR is an spin-off project from Huldufugl and Hikapee's (equally ambitious) stage show, The Hidden People, after that project was delayed by a year due to the pandemic.

We've been collaborating with UK aerial circus company Hikapee since 2018 on a large-scale stage production - but when it became apparent that we were going to have to pause work on it for at least a year, we came up with the idea of producing an animated VR piece using the same performers, set in the same world, but with a brand new storyline.

Work in progress! The piece will be available on release for Oculus Quest and other major VR platforms.

Creative Team

Parallel People / Hliðstætt Fólk

Interactive VR theatre
  1. 2020-2022
  2. Design, development, direction
  3. Touring

A live interactive social theatre experience about trust, communication and questioning your sources of information.

Nominated for Best Immersive Performance at Raindance Immersive 2022.

One day, you wake up and find yourself trapped in a transparent box in a hostile, barren landscape - but it appears you're not alone. There is the Caretaker, who says they just want to keep you safe inside this box, promising to show you wonders beyond imagining. There are the Others, individuals trapped in boxes just as you are - some of whom are acting strangely. And the Voice in your head - together all of them are talking, acting, behaving at odds with one another - so who will you believe?

Based on Huldufugl's international award-winning VR experience 'Kassinn / A Box In The Desert' (one of the world's first experiences of its kind), this show expands the narrative to allow five audience members to determine their own story against a barrage of conflicting voices.

The show takes place entirely in VR using the Oculus Quest headset.

Featuring a live performer, and an operator backstage calling cues that affect the world based on the conversation that takes place, each show - whilst having a consistent narrative and storyline - is unique based on the behaviour of the audience members in the room at that time.

Performances:
  • Þjóðleikhúsið (The National Theatre of Iceland) - April 2022 (Sold out run)
  • Raindance Immersive 2022 - November 2022 (Nominated for Best Immersive Performance)
Creative Team:
  • Performers : Nanna Gunnars & Ástþór Ágústsson
  • Director & Design : Owen Hindley
  • Unity programmer & concept development : Torfi Ásgeirsson
  • Writer & concept development : Steingerður Lóa Gunnars
  • Composer : Íris Thorarins
  • Supported by : The Icelandic Artist Fund / Listamannalaun

The Hidden People

Realtime Projections for Aerial Circus Theatre
  1. 2018-2022
  2. Co-producer, Visual designer
  3. UK/Iceland/Finland
Looking across the pristine Icelandic landscape she is about to alter forever, Rósa wonders - is the landscape also looking back at her?

A collaboration between Hikapee Theatre and Huldufugl, a show for medium to large stages that combines circus arts, theatre, Icelandic folklore and creative technology.

In Iceland, stories exist of 'huldufólk' (hidden people) - beings of uncertain benevolence held responsible in for both sudden good fortune and disappearances, unexpected occurrences and madness. They can be seen as as anthropomorphisation, an embodiment of nature with all its gifts and dangers.

Hikapee approached us at Huldufugl to collaborate on this piece, and for us to join our skills with creative technology to their high-flying aerial storytelling abilities.

After having visited us here in Iceland, they wanted to tell a story involving these huldufólk in some way. Initially, we were reluctant - stories of huldufólk have a slightly cliché status within Iceland itself, but we then came round to seeing this as an opportunity and challenge - how can we use these embodiments of nature to tell a modern story, focused on humanity's impact on the natural world.

Together we narrowed in on a story featuring the building of a hydroelectric dam - a controversial topic within Iceland, providing clean power on one hand, but flooding vast areas of pristine countryside with the other.

During the research and development process, we experimented with different technologies to animate this world - and settled on large-scale projection mapping, using both the set and the performers themselves as a canvas.

With projected visuals for the entire duration of the show (90 minutes), we used Houdini and Unity to design and render the scenes. Playback was handled using a custom-made TouchDesigner app, receiving cues via OSC from Qlab, running realtime effects on top of the video, and handling the projection mapping.

In some scenes, we're even controlling the visuals with an Xbox gamepad live during shows, which just to keep things exciting!

Finally, after several years of rehearsals, covid-induced delays and fundraising, the world premiere took place at Worthing Pavilion Theatre in March 2022. The show plans to be touring worldwide from August 2022.

Creative Team
  • Produced by Hikapee & Huldufugl
  • Bryony Livesey-Casey – Co-Writer, Artistic Director
  • Edd Livesey-Casey – Co-Writer, Performer
  • Nanna Gunnars – Co-Writer, Performer
  • Owen Hindley – Co-Writer, Visual Design
  • Jenni Pystynen – Lighting Consultant
  • Saz Moir – Set Design
  • Tarn Aitken - Set Fabrication
  • Sarah Juliet Dearing - Costume Design
  • Rachel Sampley - Lighting Design
  • Saul Valiunas - Lighting Design
  • Íris Thorarins – Composer
  • Roland Smith – Dramaturg
  • Catriona Giles - Movement Consultant
  • Gabbie Cook - Movement Consultant
  • Laura Overton-Harvey - Company Manager
  • Jacob Hirsch-Holland - Head Rigger
  • Chrissie Ardill - Associate Rigger
  • Sophie Northmore - Performer
  • Jen Robinson – Performer
  • Katie Hardwick – Performer
  • Tilly Mae - Performer
  • Lawrence Swaddle - Performer
  • Charlotte Greenstock - Performer
  • Mim Wheeler – R&D Performer
  • Hamish Tjoeng – R&D Performer
  • Saku Mäkelä – R&D Performer
  • Riia Kivimäki – R&D Performer

Kassinn / A Box In The Desert

Interactive VR Theatre
  1. 2017-2018
  2. Direction, Design, Development
  3. Touring

Imagine one day, you wake up inside an invisible box, unable to escape.

An engaging, but playful, interactive theatre performance with a live actor in virtual reality.

Will you trust this mysterious stranger? Or listen to the voice in your head, trying to get you out?

One of the world's first pieces of its kind, the show explores what happens by smashing together future-thinking theatre forms with technology.

Created by Huldufugl, the piece is a mix of Virtual Reality, multiplayer gaming and interactive theatre.

The concept initially began as a short play by Nanna, written and performed in a conventional theatre in 2016 – after which I put forward the idea to re-create this piece in VR. We premiered the first version in Reykjavík in August 2017, and developed it for a longer run in July 2018, before taking the show to the Stockholm Fringe Festival in September 2018, and with more international dates planned for 2019!

One person at a time experiences the piece inside of a 2 x 2m physical space, whilst the actor performs in a separate physical space. For our first outing, we used the Xsens motion capture suit (expertly handled by PuppIT), but currently the show involves two Oculus Rift setups, sharing the same virtual space using multiplayer networking.

Show control is handled by an operator, who can observe and control both events in the world and the ‘voice in your head’ via a Qlab interface, and we have a beautiful LED box created by Swedish engineering magicians Svartljus.

After touring the piece throughout Europe and to the USA, we went back into the rehearsal room to re-create the experience for more than one audience member at a time. The result is Hliðstætt Fólk / Parallel People, which you can read more about above.

Links:
  • Microsite : ⤤
Performances:
  • Reykjavík, Menningarnótt (Culture Night) - August 2017 (Sold out run)
  • Reykjavík Fringe Festival - July 2018
  • Stockholm International Fringe Festival - September 2018
  • A Maze Berlin - April 2019
  • Brighton Fringe Festival - May 2019
  • Jackson's Lane Theatre London - May 2019
  • B-Reel Open House, Los Angeles - May 2019
  • Private performance, Los Angeles - May 2019
  • San Diego Fringe Festival - May 2019
  • Reykjavík Fringe Festvial - July 2019
  • Raindance Immersive Festival - September 2019
Creative Team:
  • Performers : Nanna Gunnars, Ástþór Ágústsson
  • Music : Iris Thorarins
  • Sound : Ragnar Hrafnkelsson
  • Concept Development : Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson
  • Additional 3D design, build : Jacob Andersson
Media:
  • Behind the scenes at STOFF 2018 : ⤤
  • Kassinn at Menningarnótt 2017 (first iteration) : ⤤

Askur Yggdrasils Maze

Large-scale outdoor public art installation
  1. 2016
  2. Design, Build
  3. Reykjavík, Iceland

Transforming a former car park in central Reykjavík, Huldufugl created a 370 square metre immersive public art installation. A maze, drawing inspiration from Nordic mythology and the poetic Edda.

Built over six weeks from shipping pallets and spare timber, Askur Yggdrasils opened on Culture Night (Menningarnótt), where over 1,500 people of all ages queued up to lose themselves inside.

Entering one at a time, and lasting anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, the audience were able to explore a series of interconnected rooms and corridors, with unique set design and installations ranging from hanging ice sculptures to origami, VHS tape, vintage TVs, mirrors and interactive sound works.

Lucky visitors at certain times were able to catch one of the live performances from musicians, dancers, choirs and circus artists.

In total, over sixteen unique spaces were created by 24 contributing artists, enjoyed by over 3,000 visitors over the four week opening.

The project was part funded by Landsbankinn, and made with some incredible support from The Travelling Embassy of Rockall.

Creative Team:

ABBA Voyage Launch

Local production for ABBA's Voyage album launch livestream
  1. Sept 2021
  2. Local Production, Location & Talent booking
  3. Sky Lagoon, Iceland

A chance phone call from Sweden resulted in us being a small part of musical history...

When ABBA announced to the world via livestream that they were re-forming, launching a new album and creating a cutting-edge digital performance space in London, you may have noticed one of the 'watch party' locations stood out from the others.

In between the live feeds from Rio, Berlin, London, Stockholm etc, was footage of a glamorous crowd in a stunning infinity pool, surrounded by moss and stone, looking out across a fjord with mountains in the background.

We were approached by the production company to act as local producers for the Icelandic component of the broadcast, for a 'very well known Swedish band'. Dutifully sworn to secrecy, we contacted the recently opened Sky Lagoon, a beautiful nature-themed open-air pool and spa a few minutes from the city center of Reykjavík. They immediately jumped on board, and a few choice photos of the lagoon convinced our client that this would be no simple 'pool party' - pool culture being near sacred in Iceland.

With beloved Icelandic Eurovision pundit Felix Bergsson as host, and disco legend Hermigervill providing warm-up tunes, we were all set to fill the space with ABBA fans, which luckily are not hard to come by!

With local production company Hero Productions handling the technical side of things (Huldufugl unfortunately being on another project in Norway at the time of the event), musical history was made, as millions of people around the world tuned in to watch the livestream.

Maybe we're biased, but we couldn't help notice that our event received proportionally quite a bit more airtime than the others...
Creative Team

Of Monsters And Men / Fever Dream Day

Street Performance Happening
  1. 2019
  2. Concept & Technology
  3. Reykjavík, Iceland
Eight masked, robed dancers run, crawl, pirouette and parade their way through downtown Reykjavik, accompanied by a soundtrack that invisibly floated along with them, coming together for a choreographed dance routine before scattering into the crowds.

International Icelandic superstar rock band Of Monsters And Men contacted Huldufugl to produce a beautifully bizzare, attention-grabbing street performance to celebrate the launch of their latest album "Fever Dream", and the homecoming headline show at Iceland Airwaves 2019.

We immediately contacted our friend and long-time collaborator Juliette Louste to act as choreographer, and FWD Youth Dance Company as our dance talent.

Each dancer, performing as a character from the band's 'Alligator' music video, carried a hidden portable speaker connected to a custom-made internet radio station, created by Huldufugl. As the performers moved around the town, a synchronised soundtrack accompanied them without any visible equipment.

A member of Huldufugl followed the group incognito around the route, blending into the crowd and triggering the 'Alligator' musical choreography via a mobile phone interface. They were also able to non-verbally guide the group with other cues to instruct the dancers to come together, break apart, or move onto the next position.

To cap it off, the performers were livestreamed from on-stage at Airwaves to Times Square NYC, courtesy of Icelandair :
Creative Team:
  • Performers : Nanna Gunnars,  FWD Youth Company : Andrea Urður Hafsteinsdóttir, Anna Guðrún Tómasdóttir Bjartey Elín Hauksdóttir, Emilie Anne, Emma Eyþórsdóttir, Juliette Louste, Júlía Kolbrún Sigurðardóttir, Kolfinna Ingólfsdóttir
  • Choreographer : Juliette Louste
  • Wireless synchronised soundsystem : Owen Hindley
  • Music : Of Monsters And Men
  • Photography : Sigurþór Hallbjörnsson

The Reform Club Presents

An Immersive Journey Into the Unknown with House of Q
  1. May 2016
  2. Production, & Design & Performance
  3. Reykjavík, Iceland

We took 25 specially invited guests on a Journey Into the Unknown - meeting at a secret location, before being brought into The Reform Club; a private, members-only institution about to embark on an adventure.

An intimate, immersive experience featuring the 1956 classic “Around The World In 80 Days”, led by and including performances by international caberet group House Of Q.

Creative Team:
  • Concept, Producer, Performer : Nanna Gunnars
  • Design, Technical Director, Performer : Owen Hindley
  • Cabaret Performers : The House Of Q

Heima

An Icelandic Experience @ Deptford Cinema
  1. March 2016
  2. Production, & Design & Performance
  3. Deptford Cinema, UK

A sold-out immersive Icelandic experience inside Deptford's oldest cinema

Featuring a special screening of Heima by Sigur Rós, Iceland photography exhibition by Nick Miners, live music by Mimra & ÍRiS, an art exhibition by Ella Rósinkrans, and Icelandic delicacies.

Creative Team:

Aa / Helvetica

A celebration of typography, graphic design and Helvetica
  1. April 2016
  2. Production, & Design & Performance
  3. Deptford Cinema, UK

A party inspired by design, typography, and Helvetica Neue 65 Medium.

Featuring a screening of Helvetica by Gary Hustwit, interactive type installations, poetry by Angela Brodie, live reading by John McGhee, personal illustration by Alexander Luttley, and live music from MIMRA.

Huldufugl created a number of installations and performances for the show - from a typographic tasting menu to an interactive touchscreen & projected piece allowing the user to see different typefaces affect the perceived tone of text from Pulp Fiction to Lady Chatterley's Lover.

We also presented a 'font quiz' show, with a host represented only by words presented in a variety of typefaces.

Finishing off the evening audiences enjoyed music from MIMRA, with a live visuals also by Huldufugl.

Links:
Creative Team:
Talks & Education
VR Masterclass
Lecture / Workshop
  1. 2022
  2. Þjóðleikhúsið (National Theatre of Iceland)
Stockholm University of the Arts
Guest Lecture / Online student workshop
  1. 2022
  2. Stockholm, SE
Raindance Immersive
Panel Discussion - Live Performances In The Metaverse
  1. 2022
  2. London, UK
Who are Huldufugl?
Lecture
  1. 2021
  2. Berghs School of Communication, Stockholm
Worlding Deserts
Panel discussion about virtual worlds
  1. 2020
  2. Night Of Ideas, Institute Francais in London
NUNC festival
Interdisplinary arts & speculative future festival - Lecture
  1. 2020
  2. London, UK
Industry Expert Introduction
Lecture
  1. 2020
  2. Hyper Island, Stockholm
Raindance Community Day Lecture
Lecture for festival's community outreach programme
  1. 2019
  2. London, UK
Raindance Immersive Panel
LBE, new avenues for XR showcase, audience engagement & monetisation
  1. 2019
  2. London, UK
Designing Tiny for Massive
Short course for Graphic Design students
  1. 2019
  2. Listaháskóli Íslands (Icelandic University of the Arts)
Processes for creativity
Lecture
  1. 2017
  2. Listaháskóli Íslands (Icelandic University of the Arts)
Creative Technology Workshop
Arduino, Web & Electronics
  1. 2017
  2. Hyper Island, Stockholm
Designing for VR
Lecture
  1. 2017
  2. Tækniskólinn, Reykjavík

The Company


"But I won't have any work if we move to Iceland!" "Well let's form a theatre company together then, so you'll always have something to keep you busy."

...That's one version of the story of how Huldufugl was formed - when, after three years together in London, founders Nanna Gunnars and Owen Hindley moved to Nanna's home country of Iceland, and Owen was terrified of not having any work to do.

Seven years later, they've broken new ground worldwide with one of the first live theatre shows in VR (Kassinn / A Box In The Desert), helped make musical history with ABBA, explored new storytelling territory with circus theatre, motion capture and technology, gotten people really excited about fonts, and definitely gave Owen and Nanna more than enough to keep them busy.

They've also been lucky to work with some fantastic collaborators from all over the world, and are just getting started.

Awards


Won
Nominated

Nanna Gunnars

Co-founder

Nanna (she/her) is a performer, producer and writer.

As a performer she specialises in interactive one-on-one performances, public promenades, and physical theatre. Performing across Europe, she has worked for companies such as Secret Cinema, Look Left Look Right, Nutkhut, Moon Fool, Stella Polaris and RedIsGo (Microsoft / Salesforce), as well as a flock of birds for the multilingual storytelling adventure Tweet Tweet! Tíst Tíst! Ćwir Ćwir!

Her work has taken her to Glastonbury, The Edinburgh Fringe, Raindance Film Festival, Brighton Fringe, Stockholm Fringe, San Diego Fringe, A Maze & Bestival.

She produced and hosted the quarterly Rauða skáldahúsið, or Poetry Brothel Reykjavik, an immersive poetry experience and cabaret, performing as the Madame Karítas between 2017 and 2019.

As a voiceover artist she has recorded for Disney and American Airlines, as well as for the independent video game Sumer.

In 2018 she founded the Reykjavík Fringe Festival, where she was the Artistic Director and Festival Producer for its first 5 years, managing a team responsible for exhibiting on average over 70 international and local acts per year, over several venues, and doubling the festival from 5 days in 2018 to over 10 days in 2022.

She has also worked as a special events producer and local fixer for high-profile events such as RIFF (Reykjavík International Film Festival), the worldwide launch of ABBA’s Voyage album and an influencer weekend with MAC Cosmetics. She has also acted as producer for Isle of Games, Spindrift Theatre and Reykjavík Ensemble.

Nanna wrote the first draft of Kassinn, a Huldufugl production, and also works as a freelance travel and lifestyle writer. She has been published in Vogue Scandinavia, by Wow Air’s inflight magazine and by Guide to Iceland.

Owen Hindley

Co-founder

Owen (he/him) is a digital artist, working with software, sound, and electronics for the web, VR, performances, devices and installations.

His commercial work outside of Huldufugl has included serving as technical lead on large, cutting-edge projects for clients such as Oculus Studios, Google, Microsoft/Xbox, Samsung and Mercedes, collaborating with digital creatives such as Universal Everything, FIELD and B-Reel. These projects have ranged from an interactive web-connected musical installation at the London Science Museum for Google, Web Lab, to a pneumatic live-streamed pinata-smashing robot.

He is also a co-founder of Horizons Studio, a London-based creative studio producing interactive musical experiences in VR. Their debut title, Horizons VR was a launch title for the Google Pixel phone, which they followed up with a collaboration with OKGO on their VR music-making experience Lambchild Superstar for Oculus Rift.

He has also acted as Sound Supervisor on a number of feature films and documentaries, and is also a musician and DJ.