The Utopian Has Arrived: VR and AR in the Art World

Abstract

It is 1929. The walls around me are covered with various black and white photographs. I am alone in an enormous, grandiose exhibition hall. All of a sudden, I am standing right in front of one of the walls and do not know how to turn around. After a few more attempts, I give up and decide to leave. Now it is 2019. How? Virtual Reality. In order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus, the NRW Forum in Düsseldorf recreated an exhibition curated by the photographer, artist and Bauhaus professor László Moholy- Nagy.1 While wearing a headset and holding a controller, the visitors can move around the virtual exhibition hall and explore the works in detail; just like the exhibition’s visitors around 90 years ago. The actual physical exhibition room is entirely different from the virtual one. The walls are painted black, and there are other visitors. Some of them are wearing headsets while cautiously moving around the room and pointing at something that is not visible in the real world. A bizarre image, just as bizarre as the experience within the virtual space. As I am about to leave the room, I hear the museum guide proudly announce to another visitor that ‘This is the future, all exhibitions will be like this in the future.’