Kerry James Marshall - the VR experience
The artist's acclaimed exhibition Mastry is now available in virtual reality, for Mac, PC and Oculus Rift users
Many virtual reality apps try to create fantastic, new, imaginary worlds. A new offering from the Californian developers VR't Ventures, however, aims to recreate an equally impressive visual experience that was, up until earlier this year, readily available.
VR't has made a virtual reality version of US artist Kerry James Marshall's acclaimed retrospective Mastry. The exhibition, which debuted in Chicago in spring 2016 before travelling to the Met Breuer in New York, and finally closed at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles back in July, was Marshall's largest museum retrospective to date, and was praised for the way in which the artist has tried to introduce black subjects into western art – a tradition that that tends to offer a narrower view of race.
"Conversant with a wide typology of styles, subjects, and techniques, from abstraction to realism and comics," explains our new book on the artist, "Marshall synthesizes different traditions and genres in his work while seeking to counter stereotypical depictions of black people in society."
VR't's new app, which is free to download, reproduces the MOCA hanging of Mastry, allowing Mac, PC and Oculus Rift users to navigate their way around the museum, study the paintings in depth, and also listen to an audio guide.
It won't beat an afternoon at the museum, nor a few hours with our new Kerry James Marshall book, though it will help anyone who missed the exhibition tick off a major event in this year's arts calendar, as well as fill a wider hole in the way we look at different races in fine art.
