Visitors to this museum have to wear VR headsets. They step into another era, wandering into history. There they find an important event in the birth of photography.
It’s not a real exhibit, but it certainly looks and sounds like one. It re-creates a 1839 exhibit that took place in Birmingham, England, at a time when people were still unsure about what photography’s impact on the art world would be.
The photographs from the original exhibit have all faded, so each item had to be reconstructed digitally. Even the crackling of a fire and the scurrying of mice were added into this virtual reality world.
The exhibit runs from May 18 to June 11 at London’s Somerset House. The location of the original 1839 Birmingham exhibit has since been demolished. But the exhibit will head to another Birmingham location later in the year.
