The Kremer Museum was launched last October as the first entirely virtual reality museum building designed for purpose, housing “real” works of art, all experienced in super high definition through a VR headset.
Designed by the architect Johan van Lierop, the digital museum houses digital recreations of the 74 physical artworks owned by the American collectors George and Ilone Kremer, who have collected Dutch and Flemish 17th century art since 1994.
The launch of the new space makes it possible to show the Kremer Collection together permanently, when it is rarely possible to do this physically because the works are often on loan to museums across the world.
The collection includes works by masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Gerrit Dou, Frans Hals, and Pieter de Hooch.
“Each of the 74 works have been photographed between 2,500 and 3,500 times and seamlessly put back together to create a complete viewing experience for each artwork,” said Joël Kremer, the director of the Kremer Collection and co-founder of the digital Kremer Museum.
Visitors to the museum can walk around the building, clicking on works that they want to see in greater detail, and can look at them from any angle, close up or far away.
Why set up a digital museum instead of a real one? “It has been a significant investment, but then again it's nowhere near how much a physical museum location would have cost us,” said Kremer, who was the retail and entertainment industry manager at Google from 2004 to 2010.
“To design a museum without gravity, plumbing or code regulations is a dream for every architect,” said the Kremer Museum’s architect Johan van Lierop.
The museum will have to make back the expenditure on creating it though: “We are working on a few models where we will charge people for a museum visit. Think about pay-per-visit, group discount, multiplayer with friends around the world, and even a year-pass, together with other museums,” said Kremer.
The museum is still being trialled, but Kremer said that a number of exclusive pop-up events with full VR set-up will take place in the coming months – dates will be announced on the Kremer Collection’s website in due course. There will also be a mobile application released soon on Google Play Store for Daydream that will allow people to visit the museum with any Google Daydream-ready smartphone and VR mask.
Designed by the architect Johan van Lierop, the digital museum houses digital recreations of the 74 physical artworks owned by the American collectors George and Ilone Kremer, who have collected Dutch and Flemish 17th century art since 1994.
The launch of the new space makes it possible to show the Kremer Collection together permanently, when it is rarely possible to do this physically because the works are often on loan to museums across the world.
The collection includes works by masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Gerrit Dou, Frans Hals, and Pieter de Hooch.
“Each of the 74 works have been photographed between 2,500 and 3,500 times and seamlessly put back together to create a complete viewing experience for each artwork,” said Joël Kremer, the director of the Kremer Collection and co-founder of the digital Kremer Museum.
Visitors to the museum can walk around the building, clicking on works that they want to see in greater detail, and can look at them from any angle, close up or far away.
Why set up a digital museum instead of a real one? “It has been a significant investment, but then again it's nowhere near how much a physical museum location would have cost us,” said Kremer, who was the retail and entertainment industry manager at Google from 2004 to 2010.
“To design a museum without gravity, plumbing or code regulations is a dream for every architect,” said the Kremer Museum’s architect Johan van Lierop.
The museum will have to make back the expenditure on creating it though: “We are working on a few models where we will charge people for a museum visit. Think about pay-per-visit, group discount, multiplayer with friends around the world, and even a year-pass, together with other museums,” said Kremer.
The museum is still being trialled, but Kremer said that a number of exclusive pop-up events with full VR set-up will take place in the coming months – dates will be announced on the Kremer Collection’s website in due course. There will also be a mobile application released soon on Google Play Store for Daydream that will allow people to visit the museum with any Google Daydream-ready smartphone and VR mask.
