Can immersive storytelling at Expo 2025 help spark a more sustainable future?

This article was produced as part of a media partnership with Tellart for FairPlanet’s special coverage of Expo 2025. 

Half a dozen figures step onto a large circle, carrying glowing orbs cupped in their hands, each radiating an ethereal ocean-blue light. In front of them stands a luminous infinity mirror on the wall, its circular shape glowing with light. As visitors gather together in a circle, the orbs in their hands begin to glow with a steady white rhythm - like a beating heart. The ambient melody swells, growing more vocal as more people join. 

This moment marks the final part of the visitor journey at the Netherlands Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka - an experience designed to spark collective problem-solving and climate action through immersive storytelling.

“Experience design turns abstract ideas like climate change, biodiversity loss or renewable energy into something that you can feel, hear, touch and experience together,” said Pim Schachtschabel, Design Director at Tellart - the Amsterdam-based experience design studio behind both the Netherlands and Philippine pavilions. Tellart creates spatial, interactive and multisensory experiences that transform how people understand our world and imagine the future, working at the intersection of nature, culture and technology.

“A common myth is that sustainability messaging must be purely didactic or technical to be taken seriously,” he added. “But we believe stories that move people - through joy, wonder or even dissonance - can be far more effective in changing behaviour.”

©️ Zhu Yumeng

Focusing on the threat of rising sea levels, the Netherlands is using its 2025 Expo pavilion to spotlight its leadership in innovative water solutions as a country below sea level. The pavilion offers a framework not only to engage the general public, but also to spark dialogue among businesses, political ambassadors and dignitaries who have the power to drive larger, systemic change. 

The pavilion was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), with architecture by RAU Architects, engineering by DGMR and construction by Asanuma. The overall concept was developed by consortium AND BV.

©️ Zhu Yumeng

Immersive Storytelling for Climate Action at Expo 2025

Digital installations are simply tools for a broader kind of storytelling - one that, as Pim puts it, resonates more deeply when audiences feel like they are part of the experience.

After witnessing chaotic water patterns gradually shift into calm, synchronised ripples in a stainless steel basin, each visitor receives an interactive orb glowing with a warm orange hue. When placed near a designated touchpoint on the wall, the orb transforms into a soft blue or purple light, triggering the illumination of a storyboard that unfolds along the levels of a sloping walkway.

“The personal energy orb makes people feel more involved in the story,” said Jess McCulloch, Communications Manager at Tellart. “Each time their orb responds to an installation, they see the impact of their actions. Neuroscience research shows experiences are more memorable when multiple senses are engaged.”

©️ Tellart

On the third level, it takes five visitors placing their energy orbs together to activate the next part of the story - a moment Jess says is meant to inspire collective action in the face of shared challenges. From there, groups move into a dome theatre inside the “man-made Sun” of the architecture, where they hold up their orbs while watching a short film projected with a spoken word narrative about how we can come together to solve humanity’s overconsumption of limited resources.

After the inspiring message, visitors are greeted by boards introducing Dutch environmental innovations, including wave energy conversion, floating solar panels and cell-based fish. Then, together, they step onto “common ground,” the pavilion’s theme, for a final shared experience. 

©️ Zhu Yumeng

Can Art and Design Shift Climate Behaviour?

Exploratory and creative interventions like these are often an attempt to “influence both local citizens, their own governments, broader international audiences and other governments,” Ros Taplin, Associate Professor at SOAS University of London specialising in environmental policymaking and art, told FairPlanet.

She said art and experience communicate the urgency of scientists’ desperate messages in a different medium.

“Through installations at major international events, they highlight to the audience the pressing need for greater cooperation and assistance internationally and for sustained work within countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change,” Ros explained. 

That’s largely because other paths have been blocked, the expert noted. It comes after nearly three decades of international climate talks that have failed to reach consensus on phasing out planet-heating fossil fuels. Countries continue to fall short of their Paris Agreement targets, while major corporations still produce plastic packaging at scale despite years of activism calling for a ban.

©️ Tellart

Art installations might be new in their roles in inspiring climate actions, but a 2024 study  published in Environmental Communication found that arts-based interventions are effective in raising climate awareness and changing behaviours. The study explored the impact of "FloodLights," a series of multimedia art installations in Kingston-Upon-Hull, UK, designed to explore experiences of living with water. The study found that 34 per cent of surveyed attendees intended to change their behaviour regarding water, flooding or climate change after experiencing the installations, and 25 per cent had already made such changes. 

Reimagining Nature and Community 

The Philippine Pavilion at Expo 2025 brings to life the concept of how “nature, culture, and community can be woven together for a better future.” 

Inside the Philippine, guests of all ages including parents and children dance to traditional Filipino music in front of a playful immersive screen that mirrors their movements and transforms their figures into vibrant silhouettes made of native plants, fruits, coral and fish.

©️ Tellart

The installation celebrates the country’s spirit of community, while also showcasing the rich flora and fauna of its biodiverse nature. Jess added it is designed to inspire more conscious and meaningful tourism to the Philippines for example the pavilion embraces principles of circular design - incorporating locally sourced, upcycled materials into locally hand woven artworks.

The installations reinforce the message that connecting with nature not only enhances well-being, but also deepens our commitment to protecting the planet.

In the main space of the pavillion, 18 bespoke handwoven fabrics hang on display, each showcasing cultural highlights from different regions of the Philippines.

“We were inspired by deep cultural traditions - especially weaving - as a metaphor for interconnectedness,” said Pim.

“From the Dreamweavers of South Cotabato, who translate their dreams into fabric, to the reuse and upcycling of materials like foil or plastic packaging in beautiful craft, we saw a sustainable mindset already embedded in daily life.”

The woven textiles are crafted from locally sourced and upcycled materials - including abaca, raffia, capiz shells and reused foils and plastics. Designed with circularity in mind, they will be repurposed after the Expo and showcased at the National Gallery of the Philippines.

©️ Tellart

Each tapestry showcases a unique fusion of melody, light and video. In one example, light mimicking a school of fish gliding through sunlit waters is projected onto a textile representing the fishing culture of Central Visayas. Another piece features intricate patterns inspired by the lanterns of a traditional festival in the Central Luzon region.

©️ Tellart

“Climate change can feel distant or abstract. Experience design closes that gap,” Pim concluded. “It creates a bridge between the intellectual and the emotional, between knowledge and memory.

“Both pavilions aim to raise awareness by creating a sensory memory - an embodied moment - rather than delivering only facts. They inspire action by showing that solutions exist, are beautiful, and need our participation to grow.”

The architecture by Filipino architect Carlo Calma was executed in collaboration with executive architect Cat Inc., while the guest experience was designed by Tellart, with creative production by Chochay Garcia. Commissioned by the Philippine Organising Committee for World Expo 2025, together with the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Promotions Board Philippines, the pavilion aims to deepen visitors’ connection to nature through immersive, emotionally resonant design.

©️ Masaki Komatsu

​​From Story to Memory

At the end of Tellart’s experience journey in the Philippine Pavilion, visitors encounter an AI-powered photo booth that frames their faces with indigenous plants traditionally used for decoration. While they wait, bite-sized environmental and cultural facts appear on screen, subtly raising awareness. 

©️ Tellart

With a single snapshot as they step out of the pavilion, they’re returned to reality - but with a lingering sense of connection to nature and the inspiration sparked by the experience.

The soundscapes featured across both pavilions were composed by South Africa–based studio Resonate Audio.

Images by Tellart.