NETJETS US VOLUME 9 2019

artscape
Daniel Birnbaum, who has
taken the creative reins at
VR pioneer Acute Art
Facing page, from top: A
still from Anish Kapoor’s
VR work Into Yourself, Fall,
2018; the artist triying the
VR headset
Previous page: Mona Lisa:
Beyond the Glass, a VR
installation at the Louvre for
the museum’s Leonardo da
Vinci exhibition
E
urope’s most notable exhibition this
year showcases Leonardo da Vinci
at the Louvre, and, perhaps fittingly,
one of the key displays will feature
a device that Leonardo himself might have
dreamed up: A virtual reality headset.
Viewers will be able to explore the
Mona Lisa in extraordinary detail in the
VR experience—benefiting from digital
enhancement to get much closer than the
usual swarming crowds allow, and also
discovering the latest research findings as
well as novel perspectives (viewers can,
among other things, see the reverse side of
the painting) to make a truly new experience
of the world’s best-known work of art.
The Louvre is one of the more conservative
institutions in one of Europe’s most techphobic
countries, so its inaugural foray into
VR is a clear sign, if any were needed, that
VR is here to stay, at least in the art world.
Five years ago, the future of VR wasn’t so
obvious. Like the driverless car, prototypes
existed and there was a vague promise of
future ubiquity. But now, unlike autonomous
vehicles, which are mired in regulatory
red tape and programming details, VR has
fulfilled its promise and sits comfortably
across a range of industries. Architects—and
their clients—have fallen head over heels
for the ability to explore a full building to
scale before the plans are signed off, and
elsewhere it is proving especially popular
as a teaching tool: Trainee surgeons in
England who learn with VR outperform
their 2D-educated peers, and businesses are
increasingly commissioning bespoke training
programs using VR following the theory that
immersive learning is both more effective and
more efficient.
The immersive quality of VR is also a
powerful draw for creative types as well, who
see the potential to unlock a new level of
engagement with their audience. Last month,
Icelandic singer Björk released Vulnicura VR,
a visual reinterpretation of her 2015 album
of the same name that transfers the private
connection between artist and individual
from headphones to headset. “The whole
process has been an improvisation, trying
to keep faith in formats,” she wrote in a
statement, explaining that she wanted to “try
to have courage to grow along with how 360
sound and vision tech was growing”.
Cinema has always been primarily a visual
medium, so its adoption of VR has been relatively
straightforward—and rapid. In 2017, for
instance, director Alejandro González Iñárritu
received a Special Achievement Award Oscar,
the first ever given to a VR film, for his Carne
y Arena, which dramatized the border-crossing
journey from Mexico to the US. The Venice
Film Festival—always a bit more adventurous—
has hosted an annual VR section of the festival
on an abandoned island, Lazzaretto Vecchio, for
the last three years. This year’s event included
more than three dozen films, some interactive,
others merely immersive.
French director Céline Tricart, whose
interactive 20-minute film The Key, also about
migrants, won the overall VR competition
this year, sums up the appeal of the medium
for directors: “I believe VR is a first-person
medium. We bring a lot of ourselves in with us:
Our identity, our thoughts, our emotions. It’s
story-living, instead of storytelling.”
The ability to elicit deep empathy makes VR
an especially appealing proposition for artists.
At the very least, it’s a way to get viewers to
give their full attention to works for minutes on
end—a rarity at art museums and galleries.
JOHN SCARISBRICK
68 NetJets