CyberBalamil
AR Ecostops and Festival
Merging Augmented Reality with Art and Nature for Ecological and Cultural Awareness
CyberBalamil (2024) is an immersive initiative that took place in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico.
The project merged augmented reality, ecological awareness, and cultural engagement and unfolded in two phases:
What I did
Strategic and Creative Direction
UX Strategy
Communication Design
3D Design
Graphic Design
Copywriting
Community Engagement
Team Coordination
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The EcoStops
The “EcoParadas”, are public Augmented Reality experiences which have the purpose of highlighting the natural challenge that some areas are facing as well as highlighting success cases in nature protection and recovery.
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The festival
CyberBalamil Festival, expanded the project into a broader experience, bridging art, nature, and technology. Hosted across various locations the festival offered an interdisciplinary program, fostering dialogue and creative engagement.
Contamination in the river of the “Sedem” sport park
Many ecological issues remain invisible in urban spaces, making it difficult for the public to engage with and take action.
Traditional environmental activism often struggles to engage broader audiences beyond those already interested, making participation feel distant or inaccessible.
There two main challenges I wanted to tackle:
The challenge
How can augmented reality (AR) be used to foster a deeper connection between people and their environment?
And how do we bring this experience to a broad audience?
THE VISION
Creating an experience where nature, technology, art, and people connect —raising ecological awareness and empowering action.
In essence:
Large-Scale Edutainment
Concierto de VICFARA
Tu Bosque talk about
Kids using CyperTrophy App to Explore the EcoStop in Moxchviquil
How did all of this take place?
Steps in the creation of the EcoStops
Go see the places
Workshop for identification
Testing everything
Fun fact:
The project was inspired
by my master thesis
Platform & Tech → The project successfully acquired the sponsorship of the creators CyberTrophy to be used as a platform to host the different EcoStops.
The Digital Sculpturs aka “Trophies”
EcoStop Categories → Each sculpture was design taking into consideration the area that was representing as well as the information that wanted to be transmitted.
The EcoStops were divided in: endangered places, recovered spaces, cultural spots as well as local economy.
Local artists (name) and (name) also helped in the creation of digital AR sculptures in the following EcoStops (….).
CyberBalamil
Museo de los altos
Come montañas
Espiral
Moxvi
Popoyote
The User Interface Narrative
Map / Cupons / 3D view and collect
CyberBalamil
Museo de los altos
Come montañas
Scan to explore the scultprues yourself
EcoStops Partners
Steps in the creation of the Festival
The creation of the elements that define it
Publicity
Make a call for everyone to paricipate
The inaguration
CyberBalamil festival provided a space for different actors to inform, educate, and entertain through diverse cultural and educational offerings, while also introducing the broader public to the digital EcoStop walks.
The bike tours
CyberBalamil
Museo de los altos
Come montañas
In essence, CyberBalamil Festival and the EcoStops proposed a way through which people experience their city: aiming an at making the invisible, visible as well as inspiring both reflection and action.
Festival Partners
The Impact
The AR EcoStops
Successfully bridged the gap between awareness and action – Instead of passively consuming information, people actively engaged with augmented reality (AR) EcoStops, discovering hidden stories about their surroundings and interacting with them in real-time.
The made environmental issues visible – Many of the places chosen for EcoStops represented either successful ecological transformations or urgent environmental challenges, turning the city itself into an interactive learning experience.
Encouraging a sense of agency – By gamifying participation, the EcoStops empowered individuals to explore, reflect, and take ownership of their role in environmental stewardship.
The festival three day festival and EcoStops successfully had a rough estimated of 400 visitors and users that visited the program as well as created a space where technology, art, and sustainability intersect – Often, these fields remain siloed.
The Festival
I am looking forward for the possibility of bringing this festival more than one time alive and into de possibility of creating more EcoStops in as many countries as posible.
Do you have a similar idea that you need support with? Do you want to explore
how Augmented Reality Storytelling could enrich your product or solution?
Book a call and lets get started !
Check CyberBalamil IG