VR MUSEUMS AROUND THE WORLD: IS IT THE FUTURE?

 Musings Abroad | Jingshu Helen Yao

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With the second wave of the pandemic picking up, museums and galleries around the world are forced to shut down once again. Many of them were only able to be back in business for a few months. More and more institutions are looking for alternatives to in-person visits that allow a more immersive experience.

Virtual Reality | Source

The use of virtual reality technology is not new to museums around the world. Museum Next recently published a list of the top pre-pandemic VR experiences in museums around the world. The use of VR prior to 2020 is usually featured during on-site visiting to enhance the experience. Some allow the audiences to view famous artwork up-close, such as Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass at Louvre. Others create an experience across space and time such as The Opening of the Diet 1863 by Alexander II in the National Museum of Finland. Previous Musings articles have touched on this topic, for example, “Virtually Effective: Top 3 Concerns With Using Virtual Reality As An Interpretive Vehicle.” However, I will be exploring how COVID-19 might impact the use of VR in museum spaces. It is yet to be determined whether VR can transform into a necessary part of museum experiences instead of a special element that features in limited programs.

Tokyo’s National Museum of Nature and Science | Source

Earlier this year Tokyo’s National Museum of Nature and Science and the Virtual Reality Innovation Organization worked together to move the entire museum collection onto virtual reality. With the use of 360 degree cameras in 1500 locations inside the museum, a flawless video footage of the whole museum was put together using AI. The visitors will see the overall structure of the museum as if playing with a dollhouse, and can access the specific exhibition they are interested in. Considering the fact that not everyone has the high tech equipment to allow them to access to the VR experience, the same footage can also be viewed on a regular computer screen. With these innovations, it seems that using VR to explore the museum space from the comfort of one’s own room will be something achievable in the near future. 

Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum | Source

Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser is a much anticipated exhibition scheduled in March 2021, in London’s Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum. Using VR cameras, the visitors are put into the role of Alice. The exhibition experience is similar to gameplay; the visitors have 14-20 minutes to participate in some of the classic moments of Alice in Wonderland, including helping the rabbit to find the lost glove, playing croquet with the Queen of Hearts, and answering riddles. However, as Hilary Lamb pointed out in her exhibition review for Engineering and Technology, despite the highly immersive environment, the content itself is rather simple. Since the glove is always hidden in the same place, and the riddle is always the same, it can only be used as a one time experience. What is different about this exhibition however, is that VR is not used as a method to mimic the real world. In this case, virtual reality brings the colourful and fascinating wonderland directly out of an age-old novel.

VR Concept Art | Source

With the announcement of multiple countries achieving success in developing vaccines for COVID-19, it seems that lock down may not last too much longer. However, even if normal museum operations resume in several months, it is likely that some methods developed during the pandemic will continue. For museums, digitalization seems to be an important part of their transformation and VR will certainly play an important role in future programming.