The Art of V.R.

Immersive VR technology, originally built to accommodate video games, offer a new venue for artistic expression and experience

            A museum in Zurich, Switzerland has recently opened up their latest ‘interactive exhibit’; Birdly, a virtual reality flight simulator from a bird’s point of view. Fully immersive, Birdly allows users to view a virtual world from up high, flap a simulated pair of wings for thrust and height, and smell the clouds they pass through. It’s a glimpse of the future of the art world, where virtual reality allows artists to create experiences beyond human.

            That artists are beginning to explore the bounds of virtual reality is no surprise. Art has always occupied the edge of technology. The first arthouse film was released in 1916, shortly after the popularization of movie-making. The entire point of the Art Deco movement was the embrace of technology. Digital artists, using CAD software and drawing tablets, have a history dating back to the first popular instance of the drawing tablet in the 1980’s. Virtual reality is only the latest frontier for artistic movement.

            One of the earliest expressions of art in virtual reality was, bizarrely, in the early-2000’s game “Second Life”. Allowing users tools to create virtual spaces and share them with others, “Second Life” featured space stations, restaurants, clubs – and museums. These museums featured crude, low-texture paintings in a digitally rendered 3-D space. This created, for the first time, the experience of artistry in a virtual reality.

            This is only scratching the surface of what’s possible, however. With the invention of virtual reality devices like the Oculus Rift and the Samsung Gear, the possible immersion in simulation has vastly increased. New programs being released, like Dear Esther and Journey, blur the line between game and digital art. Beyond this, high immersion rigs are being built at art galleries, which in conjunction with headsets allow for truly unique art installations. The Machine to be Another is a pair of virtual reality headsets that allow users to experience having a body other than their own. The aforementioned Birdly expands beyond human experience into other species.

            Present technology allows for amazing experiences, and we can only speculate as to what the future holds. With greater advancement, we could soon see surreal expression in virtual reality. Removing the human frame of reference entirely using technology offers a new frontier to the artistic mind. Time, only, will be able to show what people can accomplish.