Multimedia artist/human rights activist/generally admirable human Ai Weiwei’s stunning multimedia exhibit at London’s Royal Academy of Arts wrapped on December 13th.
Why is this news?
Because it just reopened … to anyone with a computer and a VR headset.
Ai Weiwei 360, a new virtual reality extension of the actual RA exhibit, allows anyone with an Internet connection to experience the films, photos and sculptures displayed at the show via a phone, tablet or computer. While the 360º tour is accessible to anyone, users with a Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR headset can experience the exhibit in “photorealistic stereoscopic 3D.”
In addition to virtually seeing works like Surveillance Camera, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, Bicycle Chandelier, Coloured Vases, Marble Stroller and Souvenir from Shanghai, viewers will meet — and subsequently be flipped the bird by — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who introduces the immersive VR experience.
Getting the finger from an Australian who lives in the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he introduces a Chinese artist while you sit on your couch?
That’s progress.
Main image: Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995 © Ai Weiwei
Grid image: Alex B. Huckle/Getty Images
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