Te Papa: Virtual Huia — Vanessa Smith

Part of a series of artworks commissioned for New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, and their digital directorate, this scene is one of three depicting the power of technology within the museum space.

Virtual Reality technology is sure to change the landscape for museums and the experience of museum visitors. I was engaged to create an image to visually describe this technology with the knowledge that much of the conversation surrounding VR and museums focuses on teleporting visitors into recreated worlds — it’s one of VR’s unique capabilities.

“Imagine having the opportunity to take a peek into a time when the majestic Huia soared across our skies... The Huia is the perfect specimen to showcase as something visitors can experience or be introduced to for the first time. Museum visitors are taken back to a time when the Huia were in full-flight – pre-extinction.”

To help demonstrate this technology, the concept of experiencing a past era provided a powerful angle. Here we showcase the wonderful Huia, framed, in full-flight, by a collection of lush flora (a remix of Te Papa collection imagery, handpainted elements and photography). This makes for a surreal and supernatural scene, and one that only VR can deliver. The edges of the Huia have been given a slight pixelated effect to denote it’s digital nature. A custom ‘stardust’ effect is layered over the Huia to add to the sense of magic.