The Fantasy Box at MGM Macau is a new multi-purpose cultural venue that can transform into almost any environment. Spanning 1,400 square metres and wrapped in a three-sided LED canvas rising seven metres high, it was designed as a flexible stage for art exhibitions, concerts, brand activations, weddings, and corporate events.
At its heart, the Fantasy Box connects audiences to culture, strengthening Macau’s arts community while showcasing both Chinese and global creativity.
The innovation that defines the Fantasy Box lies in the way MGM Macau, Disguise, and Smart Monkeys collaborated to create an adaptive, immersive environment that is both visionary and highly usable.
Disguise Creative Services developed a library of ten real-time digital environments for the space in Unreal Engine and Notch, each designed as a toolset rather than a fixed scene. Parameters such as colour, speed, branding, and even time of day can be changed instantly. Highlights include a striking Chinese New Year scene, a sophisticated Corporate Keynote environment with integrated live titles and speaker graphics, a romantic wedding scene, an immersive cityscape, and an audio-reactive nightclub.
Smart Monkeys conceived an intuitive show control and video solution built on their ISAAC platform, enabling MGM’s staff to trigger or adapt environments without technical barriers. This user-friendly interface made complex content management accessible and practical for day-to-day operation.
For visitors, the immersion feels seamless. The LED walls surround them with visuals that appear alive, responsive, and perfectly matched to the occasion. Guests are not simply looking at a backdrop but stepping into an environment shaped specifically for the event.
The process also broke new ground. Disguise Creative Services worked with MGM from the concept design stage, ensuring that artistic goals and technical requirements were aligned from the outset. This workflow, linking creative consultancy, technical infrastructure, and intuitive control, created a model for how immersive venues can be planned and executed in the future.
On the technical side, the venue is powered by seven Disguise GX 3 servers and ten Disguise RX III nodes, which handle real-time rendering and playback of complex content and distribute video across the massive LED canvas. Together, this backbone ensures smooth, reliable visuals at scale and gives MGM’s team the agility to update and adapt content instantly.
Since opening in 2024, the Fantasy Box has hosted major cultural programmes, including Brilliant Stars – The Civilization of Ancient Shu immersive art experience and cAI™ Lab 2.0 – Is It Your Gaze that Meets Mine, or Mine that Seeks Yours? for the 4th Art Macao festival. These events highlight both the cultural significance of the venue and its ability to move fluidly between local heritage and international creativity.
For MGM, the Fantasy Box represents a cultural showcase that can adapt to any occasion, from global art festivals to local celebrations. Its adaptive content system and intuitive control tools give their team the freedom to refresh the space for every event, ensuring visitors always encounter something distinctive and memorable.
For the wider industry, the Fantasy Box sets a new benchmark for immersive cultural venues: one where spaces are no longer defined by fixed content but by evolving, reusable creative systems that grow with their audiences and programming. It demonstrates how cultural venues can blend artistic vision, technical innovation, and operational simplicity to deliver experiences that are original, deeply immersive, and endlessly adaptable.
The Fantasy Box is powered end-to-end by Disguise. From concept to delivery, Disguise Creative Services designed the real-time environments, while Disguise hardware and software form the technical backbone of the space. This project is a testament to Disguise’s ability to deliver complete immersive solutions—from creative development to cutting-edge media playback—empowering partners like MGM to build future-ready cultural venues.
Partners
MGM Macau: Led by Darren Kopas, Executive Director of Resort Technology, alongside Derek Watterud, Hill Si, Anson Ip, Leo Tang, Amania Kuok, Rain Ng, and Sand Leung. The MGM team defined the vision for Fantasy Box and worked closely with partners throughout design, integration, and delivery.
Disguise Creative Services: Guided the project from the concept stage, developing the creative vision and delivering a customisable library of 10 immersive Unreal and Notch environments. Key contributors include Andrew Amato, Juliana Mercado, Joss Abaco, Arturas Bondarciukas Candido, and Effy Yang.
Disguise Technical Team: Supplied and commissioned the technical backbone of the venue, including seven gx 3 servers and ten rx III nodes, ensuring alignment with MGM’s existing Disguise-powered venues. Key contributors include Imani, Alan Lam, Wayne Law, and the Disguise HK team.
Smart Monkeys: Provided video and control system design, expertise, and programming. Their team, including Alan Anderson, Paul Bristol, Cambry Wade, Eric Ruhl, Michael Kisida, Ryan Moore, and Mitch Schuh, created a show control and media management solution, including a bespoke system user interface, making complex show control and content management intuitive and enabling seamless real-time adjustments.
More information about partners
The Fantasy Box was realised through close collaboration between MGM Macau, Smart Monkeys, and Disguise.
MGM Macau defined the overall vision for a flexible cultural venue and worked hands-on with partners throughout the conceptual and creative design phases. The MGM team ensured that the project aligned with the resort’s wider goal of strengthening Macau’s arts community and blending Chinese and global cultural experiences.
Disguise Creative Services acted as both consultant and content creator. From the design stage, the team helped MGM shape the creative direction for the venue, then developed a customisable library of ten immersive environments in Unreal Engine and Notch. These environments were designed as adaptable toolkits rather than fixed scenes, ensuring the Fantasy Box could continually refresh itself for different event types.
Disguise Technical Team provided the technical backbone of the venue, supplying and commissioning seven GX 3 servers and ten RX III nodes. Their work ensured smooth playback across the massive LED canvas and guaranteed alignment with MGM’s other Disguise-powered venues for operational consistency and cybersecurity compliance.
Smart Monkeys served as the show control and media management specialist. Their role was pivotal in defining the user interface and simplifying complex technical operations. By integrating intuitive show control, Smart Monkeys empowered MGM’s staff to run the venue independently, with the ability to trigger, adjust, and update visuals in real time without technical bottlenecks and to schedule operations by leveraging the ISAAC platform.
Together, these partners created a venue that combines artistic vision, technical innovation, and operational simplicity.
