Lahore residents can step inside one of the world’s most famous paintings from today, as the VXR Festival opens across the city with a virtual-reality experience of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies — and entry is completely free.
The festival runs from 8 to 11 November 2026 at four venues in Lahore, bringing celebrated paintings, classical Urdu storytelling and hand-drawn illustrations into virtual and augmented reality. After Lahore, the festival travels to Islamabad, where it will run from 13 to 15 November.
Step Inside Monet’s Water Lilies
The headline attraction is the Claude Monet VR experience, presented in Pakistan for the first time through the Institut français collection. Visitors are transported from the French artist’s garden at Giverny into his Water Lilies series at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris — one of the world’s most celebrated painting series, experienced from within an immersive virtual environment rather than from behind a rope in a gallery.
Instead of looking at the paintings on a wall, visitors wearing a headset can move through the world Monet painted: the pond, the water lilies and the light of his garden, recreated as a space to walk through. For many people in Lahore, it will be the closest they have ever come to standing inside a masterpiece.
An Urdu Dastan Becomes a Virtual World
The festival is not only about a French painting. It also features contemporary artists reinterpreting cultural heritage and traditional art forms through immersive technology.
Sana Akram’s Sun transforms the Urdu Tilismi Dastan tradition into an enchanted canyon that visitors can explore while listening to its narrative. AB Rehman’s Al Buraq 2.0 takes a figure rooted in cultural memory and mythology into a futuristic science-fiction setting.
Jérémy Griffaud’s Under the Sky animates nearly 300 watercolour paintings created in Borneo, while Faqeha Nadeem’s Every Day uses augmented reality to bring the pages of a hand-drawn sketchbook to life.
Together, the works show how virtual and augmented reality can open new ways of experiencing traditional art forms, connecting classical painting, folklore, illustration and contemporary digital expression.
Four Venues Across Lahore
The VXR Festival takes place at four venues across Lahore: Alliance Française de Lahore, the National College of Arts (NCA), R Space and Beaconhouse National University (BNU).
It is organised with the support of the Embassy of France in Pakistan, Alliance Française de Lahore, the Institut français, the Embassy of Spain in Pakistan and AECID, and in collaboration with UNESCO.
Free Entry — and Islamabad Next
The festival offers free public access, so visitors do not need a ticket to attend. No booking or timed-entry details have been announced, so visitors should check with the venues before travelling.
After the Lahore programme ends on 11 November, the VXR Festival continues in Islamabad from 13 to 15 November 2026, giving audiences in the capital the same chance to experience the works.
Why This Festival Matters
“Immersive technology does not have to replace tradition. In the hands of these artists, it becomes a way of carrying inherited forms forward on their own terms, whether a French painting series or an Urdu tale of enchantment,” said Dr Najam Ul Assar, Festival Director.
The festival arrives at a moment when Pakistan’s technology scene is drawing growing international attention, from Pakistani firms showcasing their work at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco to new AI experiences such as Meta’s Muse Voice avatars reaching users. The VXR Festival shows the other side of that story: technology used not only for business and software, but to carry art, stories and heritage into new forms.
For Lahore, it is a rare chance to walk inside a Monet, explore an Urdu dastan as a living world, and see what virtual reality can do for culture — without paying a rupee.
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