Revisit 19th century Paris using virtual reality
While I have fond memories of previous efforts to… Combining virtual reality content with real world locationsI had assumed the pandemic had put an end to these ambitions. If I wanted VR in 2024, I figured I’d have to buy a headset, and it would be a largely solitary experience at home or in the office — not something I’d share with a crowd in a converted retail space.
But a new immersive experience proved me wrong.
Created by a French startup Excurio In collaboration with the Musée d’Orsay and another startup, eclipse“,”A Night with the Impressionists, Paris 1874“The museum is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist art exhibition by taking visitors back to 19th-century Paris – first to the city streets, then to the gallery itself, and then to other key sites of Impressionist history.
Following its release in France and Atlanta, “Tonight with the Impressionists” opened Friday at the Eclipso Center in New York. (As I understand it, Eclipso provides the space for VR experiences, while Excurio created the VR content.) Like other Excurio experiences, this one uses VR to make history and culture more accessible, while also providing a showcase for the company’s technology.
At a press event earlier in the week, my partner and I joined a long line of people wearing virtual reality headsets before entering a large white room — a featureless 11,000-square-foot space that could be transformed into apartments, galleries, lakeside resorts, and more.
Unlike Emptiness (the main reference point for this type of experience), Excurio and Eclipso do not attempt to build a physical space or provide props that match the virtual experience. This means the Eclipso Center can host multiple experiences at the same time, but it can also lead to some awkward moments – like when the virtual environment slopes upward while the actual floor remains flat, or when the Parisian sofa is obscured by a floating red X to remind us that we’re falling to the ground If we try to sit down.
Despite the embarrassment, it felt like we were in Paris, staring at classic paintings and talking to their creators. In perhaps the most breathtaking moment, we shared the balcony with Claude Monet as he painted.”Impression, sunrise”, with his works expanding beyond the canvas to fill the horizon.
Excurio highlights the fact that its experiences don’t require you to wear bulky VR backpacks, just headsets, and that they allow for multiple simultaneous participants — in fact, the company says it recently broke the record for over 100 simultaneous supporting, roaming participants. Free in the same space. It manages those crowds by offering a specific story that leads you through the space; With staggered start times, there shouldn’t be much risk of bumping into another person.
In practice, our audience was dense enough that we often saw white silhouettes indicating the proximity of a real person. We never hit them, but it added a bit of the stress of dodging traffic to the experience. In the end, the 45 minutes of “Tonight With The Impressionists” were a bit long for VR newbies like us — enough time to feel some eye strain and discomfort from the equipment.
However, I’ve never really experienced anything like this. It’s worth checking out for anyone interested in Impressionist art, and even more so in the creative and educational possibilities of virtual reality.
