Virtual Reality is one of the technologies with the highest projected potential for growth. Whereas everyone speculates about the various applications of VR; the certainty is that virtual technology will open gates to limitless experiences. And, for our next Agora talk, we invited Nataliya Velykanova, Founder of Gate22 to tell us more about the future of Museum 2.0
YoungMi Lamine | 20 November 2020
On Sunday the 21st of June, the French national day of music, @jeanmicheljarre decided to celebrate it by performing in a live concert in virtual reality. © Courtesy of the artist via Gate22
Traditional Museums in context
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artefacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. The museums exhibit those items, for the general public interest, through permanent or temporary exhibits. Uniquely positioned, museums mix education, communities, escapism and fun. Museums are generally physical venues.
The museum internal goals have to include conflicting strategies to adapt to the external environment – may it be political or sanitary, that impact the desired “rich and memorable” visitor experience that museums want to offer. With an ever-escalating technology, museums have to decide “how much” they embrace new technology as a part of the visitor experience. Nowadays, museums have to deliver more “bespoke” blockbusters shows to their core audience in view to engage them best.
Pierre-Jean Giloux (@pjloux) © Courtesy of the artist via Gate22.
What happens when a museum is virtual?
The virtual museum experience is more interactive and participative. The visitors control in-person their experiences. It’s a self-directed entry experience where the visitor curates his/her own immersive exhibition.
Virtual museums are more community-focused. Those museums attract and engage with specific “Internet” communities, compared to the museums for the physical mass.
Virtual museums are designed to suit a large public because they are easily accessible and flexible. While traditional museums are often intricate in their walls because space dictates how we can curate a show; the virtual museums are built to support the exhibition.
© Courtesy of the GATE22.
What is Gate22?
Gate22 is a high concept-museum for the Digital Art & Design in virtual reality. The idea is to discover international artists in a library of artworks, in virtual reality. Why in VR? Because the experience and attention are enhanced to the max.
Most artists are, in fact, story-tellers. Virtual reality supports their narrative in limitless ways. The level of historical context is adaptable to each visitor’s request, creating a more introspective understanding of the work of art.
“Tell me and I forget,
Teach me and I remember,
Involve me and I learn.” by Benjamin Franklin and Confucius
At Agora Digital Art, we are looking forward to learning more about the next generation of virtual museums. How will Gate22 curate, educate and give context about an artwork? How many artworks can we see? Is it a guided or interactive exhibition? Many questions to be answered during this talk.
Are you ready to enter the Gate?
How museums can tell stories online that people want to hear
12 December 2020
