The VR Museum of Fine Art

It was recommended that I had a look at The VR Museum of Fine Art. This museum brings together artefacts and/or works of art, of vastly different type and scale, from across the planet, and displays them in one place.



The museum allows the viewer to experience the scale and textures of works of art up close. In their own words, "No rope barriers or glass walls here. Feel free to explore the artwork however you see fit. Roomscale VR lets you walk around, duck under, and even hug the life-sized figures".

David by Michelangelo displayed at the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italy is an example I used in an earlier post about the scale of artwork and here it is, displayed at life size for the VR visitor to walk around and it is placed close to more natural sized sculptures which give one a great sense of scale.



There are a couple of things that affect the experience. One being the resolution of some of the sculptures captured through photogrammetry. Most of the detail is incredible but a couple are a bit woolly and I think lets it down a little as you can be completely immersed by one object only to have that illusion shattered by the next. But I am being very picky here.


Some of the detail and resolution is a little woolly...


... but most is fantastic.

This is yet another VR gallery that has introduced furniture as well as a low murmuring 'museum' sound in an to attempt to make the experience feel more like going to a real museum..! Why? I am sure that for some people, metal detectors, reception, cafe and hushed sounds can be quite off-putting and quite the opposite to a relaxed and casual visit to the museum, certainly in the current climate of anti terror measures the we have to negotiate to access a public building. So why are people designing the galleries like this.



I am being a little unfair, for this gallery does a couple of things that I really like. For example The Great Buddha of Kamakura is presented (in a slightly stereotypical way) outside on a snowy mountain side which, in the real world, would be a physical impossibility.



The museum exhibits a number of paintings and the detail and resolution of them is a really high quality and because this is VR, you can go right up to the pieces and see the individual brush strokes!

 

I like this gallery/museum because it shows us a way forwards with regards to bringing diverse and widely spread artefacts together, into one space for direct comparison. It also demonstrates how detailed and life-like the experience can be/should be and I personally like the fact that the quality of the photogrammetry/reproduction has taken precedence over the experience as a whole... which is as it should be?

The VR Museum of Fine Art is available for free download through Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/515020/The_VR_Museum_of_Fine_Art/

If you are reading this blog and feel you can add something to my research then please comment… even if you are correcting me or don’t agree with something that I say.