How can we teach media literacy to young people in an engaging way in times of disinformation? In 2018, Escape Fake was developed as an immersive AR experience that fosters critical thinking through play. Players join a quantum hacker to debunk fake news, using a phone or tablet to explore an AR escape room and solve puzzles that build media skills.
Beyond the game, educators are encouraged to take an experiential and immersive approach to teaching media literacy. The Escape Fake Toolkit and the pop-up exhibition demonstrate how the experience can be integrated into classrooms.
A growing community of teachers and students in Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands explores how augmented reality, play, and digital empowerment can strengthen democratic resilience. Their prototypes and ideas, developed in a year-long co-creation process, are helping shape the future of Escape Fake—revealing what matters, what works, and what challenges still lie ahead.
Escape Fake / Irina Paraschivoiu, Thomas Layer-Wagner, Benjamin Arzt, Tobias Hoffmann, Patrick Obermüller, Julian Watzinger - Photo: Polycular GmbH
Open Lab
Escape Fake
Expanding learning with augmented reality for media literacy
Irina Paraschivoiu (RO), Thomas Layer-Wagner (AT), Benjamin Arzt (AT), Tobias Hoffmann (DE), Patrick Obermüller (AT), Julian Watzinger (AT)
Credits
Partners: Waag Futurelab (NL), Deutsche Presse Agentur (DE) I Media partner: Der Standard (AT) I Escape the Fake is co-funded by the European Union through the Creative Europe programme. I Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for. I Escape Fake was previously supported by the European Media and Information Fund, the Mercator Foundation through the Advocate Europe programme, the European Cultural Foundation and Vienna Business Agency. Presented in the context of Escape the Fake. Escape the Fake is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101186265. Presented in the context of fAIr media. fAIr media is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101147977.
Please note: The program for the Ars Electronica Festival 2025 is still in progress.
We are currently preparing all the information for the website and plan to put the full program online in the coming days – stay tuned!