How real is virtual reality?

The future is never too far away. Definitely not when it comes to the evolving ethos of museum trotting. The Oxford dictionary describes a museum as a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.

In the recent past, however, the pedagogy of museums have moved beyond stationary structures of brick and mortar. Museums are no longer wizened old ‘buildings’ you explore with your family over plump cones of strawberry ice cream on Sundays. Today, museums are magic portals at the active end of your mouse; their treasures unlocked with a simple click.
Enter the mind-churning, often eye-watering world of virtual museum tours. What is a virtual museum? We can look at it as a relatively new digital phenomenon that draws from the characteristics of a real museum and simulates its presence online, so enthusiasts who love a good braingasm but hate their travelling pants can have their cake and eat it too.

Picture this: your formerly drab screen springs to life as you enter the homepage of your museum of choice (a figurative crossing of the museum gates, if you will), an array of exciting exhibits arranged in reasonable order. You need not be a tech-snob to navigate a virtual museum. It is pretty much like link-hopping, except here you have everything you need in a single site. All you need to do is follow the digital pointers to the art objects you wish to view. Museums can offer complete 360-degree tour of its premises or upload significant sections of the inside-view in order to spark further interest.

Some of Smithsonian’s best exhibits can be enjoyed without leaving your snug swivel, same goes for sections of the Sistine Chapel, The British Museum, the National Women’s History Museum and even NASA.
Speaking about the global trend that is yet to pique mass interest in India, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director General, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Shanghralaya, (CSMVS) says, “While we cannot deny technology, our domestic audience is fond of originals – they like the possibility of seeing and touching. Most Indian museums have integrated websites, but full-fledged virtual tours are still some time away.”

Dismissing possible bad blood between old-school museum trips and its computerised counterpart, Mukherjee says, “Museums are repositories of past relics, an interesting thing to be, for the future world is a knowledge-based one. In such a scenario, virtual museum tours are likely to act as teasers for real ones, provoking potential visitors. The two, you must realise, are not opposed to each other at all.”

Shinji Hamada, Group Manager, Vehicle Curatorial Group, Toyota Automobile Museum, seems to agree. “Virtual reality technologies are substantially removed from real-time images/objects at this moment. Hence, real museums are not going to be replaced, but complemented by virtual ones in the near future.”

Remembering a 17-minute digital tour of Mumbai prepared by the CSMVS, Mukherjee explains, “Urban stress and easy connectivity are factors facilitating such tours. It is something like holding a menu card in your hands—think European, Asian, American art, science wonders, architectural specimens, all at your disposal. It is tempting, yes. But tell me—for all the digital images of Mona Lisa you have seen, is it the same thing as standing in the Louvre, looking straight at Da Vinci’s masterpiece with a chill travelling down your spine?”

With that rhetorical nugget, Mukherjee reassures the traditional geek that walking around a museum, looking at the wonders on the wall is an organic experience not to be replicated anytime soon. However, technologies like 3D printing, hologram illusion, audio-guides can go a long way in securing the next best experience in a world increasingly open to alternatives.

“Oh, but these are all expensive investments. A website does not cost much, but how many institutes can afford the other technologies?” Mukherjee muses, leaving us to ponder over our pick, should we be asked to choose one over a plump cone of ice cream on a lazy Sunday.