The coronavirus forced hundreds of museums, theaters, cultural events and artistic institutions of all kinds to rethink how to reach the public. It was this concern and at the same time the desire to continue offering culture to liven up the situation we were experiencing that made collections, art galleries and artistic institutions exhibit their works or material on the web. Now this digitization of museums and others has led to the birth of the VOMA (Virtual Museum of Art), a fully interactive virtual museum. Do you want to know more about him?
How is the VOMA?
The VOMA is a fully interactive museum. This means that it does not have a physical space and that the works will not be seen in situ , but can be seen from anywhere in the world and at any time of the day through a screen.
This digital museum has masterpieces that have been loaned to it by some prestigious museums and artistic institutions from different parts of the world. We highlight the Musée d’Orsay, in Paris; the Whitney Museum of American Art and MoMA, New York; the Hermitage Museum, Russia; the Art Institute of Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others. And among all the artistic material on display there will be works such as Olympia , by Édouard Manet; The Garden of Earthly Delights , by Hieronymus Bosh; or The incredulity of Santo Tomás , of Caravaggio; among many other. But, in addition, the VOMA will have works of art commissioned by international contemporary artists.
All the VOMA material is presented in high resolution, so that the public can appreciate even the smallest detail.
What’s the score?
British artist Stuart Semple was one of the people who believed that a project of this nature could be successful after seeing the impact of the coronavirus on our lives and after seeing the reaction of museums and artistic institutions. Why not create a museum that brings together some of the most representative works from the world’s leading museums? In addition to providing more security in the midst of a pandemic, it is a way to bring art closer to everyone, since not everyone has the opportunity to travel to visit museums and see the works of their favorite artists.
Semple, together with a team of architects, CGI designers, game experts and curators, created a digital museum capable of detecting the time zone of the place from which it is visited and visible from anywhere with an internet connection . The result is a museum in which there are changes in light depending on the time of day you visit or the time of year, even depending on the weather, since environmental impacts such as rain, snow have also been taken into account. or the wind.
The Virtual Museum of Art also gives the opportunity to see the visiting routes that other people have followed, read their opinions and reviews, even connect with friends or other visitors who are currently in the museum.
All this had a single objective, to make the visit as real as possible . This was the only way to make an experience really immersive and also attractive for people who are used to seeing a work of art live.
Is the VOMA worth visiting?
Surely an interactive museum like the VOMA will have its defenders and its detractors. It is clear that many people will see a real nonsense to be able to fully enjoy a work of art from a computer screen. However, right now, it is the safest way to do it. We think that it is also a way to bring art closer to people who do not have the means to travel to different parts of the world. So why not take a walk around the VOMA?
