Musings Abroad | Jingshu Helen Yao
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.
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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.
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Tokyo’s National Museum of Nature and Science | Source |
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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.
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VR Concept Art | Source |
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