Nina Boldyreva 
Exploiting the potential of virtual reality. Innovative practices in museums 

Master’s Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Art — Arts Management, , language: English, abstract: This thesis presents a detailed case study analysis of three VR projects ‘Modigliani VR: The Ochre Atelier’ at the Tate Modern, ‘Jupiter Hall’ at the Hermitage Museum, and ‘Digi Muse programme’ at the National Museum of Singapore in the context of museological trends and global market. Specifically, it lays the foundation for understanding and analysing the two aspects of this immersive technology: first, how VR applications in museums have fostered the development of partnerships between art and tech worlds which can be understood as a new collaborative ecosystem, and second, how this new type of advanced technological exhibitions can empower to capitalise on these partnership opportunities while achieving museum’s mission. Importantly, this new form of cooperation has an economic component which ensures value creation, in this case, for VR projects, whether in-house, online or in different hosting venues.

The attempt is to integrate the findings to demonstrate how VR technology can become a new channel to achieve museum’s objectives while remaining relevant and sustainable, and suggest a list of important factors to consider for an effective use of VR in museum practice. The present research aims at addressing the gap in the current academic literature by providing an analysis of VR in museum practices, in order to guide future designs of museum VR exhibitions. The thesis provides a solid foundation for further studies of this new collaborative ecosystem between the cultural and technological worlds.