I met the Director of Vive Arts Victoria Chang at the Tate Modern last month.
She was there as part of HTC’s new arts programme to launch Preloaded’s fantastic new virtual reality experience that places you in Modigliani’s painting studio.
Today we’re talking about other artists old and new. “What would Old Masters like Leonardo da Vinci have made of virtual reality?” I wonder out loud.
“It would definitely be an eye-opening experience,” Chang suggests. “It is even for any contemporary artist.”
Eye-opening doesn’t quite cut it.
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Modigliani VR at the Tate Modern places you in the artist’s studio. Image: Preloaded.
A virtual Turner prize?
We’ve already told you how incredible virtual reality art is – with its unique power to transport you into new worlds with new possibilities.
“Many people call VR the empathy machine because it is so immersive and so provocative,” says Chang.
“It really generates a strong reaction emotionally and sometimes even physically.”
Virtual reality has been a recognised media for decades, of course, it’s just the technology is becoming more available – thanks to companies like HTC (and Google and Facebook).
And today it’s a medium many more artists continue to adopt to create sophisticated and powerful works, Chang says.
“Only a Turner prize panellist could tell you,” says Chang. “But we’ve seen so many artists creating amazing works, I don’t think it will be too far off until we see a major VR artist enter a very important international prize.”
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Yinka Shonibare’s VR experience is on show at the Royal Academy’s From Life exhibition. Image: RA
So who are the frontrunners?
“The Yinka Shonibare work at the RA is truly phenomenal,” offers Chang.
She’s right. I went and tried the British-Nigerian artist’s experience at the Royal Academy’s From Life exhibition last week.
It’s a recreation of Gavin Hamilton’s neoclassical painting Venus Presenting Helen To Parisby Gavin Hamilton – you step into the different layers, past floating angels, through a palatial hallway, to a stunning banana tree-lined terrace to view Shonibare’s Venus.
But the magic of VR art isn’t just about creating amazing experiences, it’s about creating amazing experiences that everyone can enjoy.
This is why Chand also hails The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum for its VR adaption of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room.
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Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room has been made into VR. Image: Hirshhorn
Welcoming diverse audiences
Normally viewers would have to physically enter an installation, something that isn’t easy for those with physical impairments, or wheelchairs.
“VR allows them to have the same splendid perceptive experience,” says Chang.
It’s a case of VR making art accessible to all.
And VR can even help galleries preserve art for future audiences too.
Galleries like the Tate are already archiving their works in VR “so that maybe 100 years later the researcher working on Modigliani can refer to how the exhibition actually looked when you walked within it,” says Chang.
“That’s something [where] VR is very valuable.”
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The National Theatre’s Draw Me Close blends virtual and physical performance. Image: NT
Beyond ‘art’
Vive Arts is supporting virtual reality to thrive outside the gallery too – it’s already been adopted by renowned institutions like The Royal Opera House and the Dutch National Ballet.
Chang however points to the National Theater’s Draw Me Close experience as a fantastic example of VR drama.
“You’re a child sitting on the floor in his childhood room waiting for his mother to return,” she explains.
“Then a live actress wears Vive trackers on her head and on her hands and actually interacts with him in the physical world as well as the virtual world.”
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Art as a business?
Chang says that her role at Vive Arts is to support adoption, experimentation and enjoyment across the VR world.
But Vive Arts is also a funding programme so, in addition to providing advice and support, it does pay in-kind to support institutions adopting VR.
It’s a smart move to get its HTC Vive headset out into public hands.
“We’d love to see – through the Vive Arts programme – more customers seeing us in galleries and therefore purchasing the equipment and becoming a cultivated VR user,” Chang acknowledges.
“It’s already happening – people at home and at school can put on the Vive headset and visit a private collection from the other side of the world.”
Should we be scared that such rich virtual experiences could deter people from seeing the real deal in real life?
“No,” says Chang firmly. “What virtual reality provides is something to enhance actual gallery visits: nothing can ever take away the experience of you standing in front of a picture or a sculpture.”
Source: The Memo