Virtual Realms
Dates
Tickets
|
Standard |
$20 |
|
Concession |
$17.50 |
|
Junior (5 – 15) |
$15 |
| Junior (4 & under) | Free |
| Family | $60 |
Education and Group Discounts available.
Education Groups
Information for education groups
Open Late
May 6, 13, 20 | 5pm, 6pm, 7pm
Accessibility
Experience an immersive exhibition redefining digital creativity.
Step into realms of videogame artistry in a series of playful and immersive installations that will take you on a journey through new sonic landscapes and exciting kaleidoscopic worlds.
Virtual Realms pairs six of the world's most acclaimed videogame developers with six leading media design studios to create a series of large-scale, experimental spaces.
This exhibition presents 21st century game design as a unique form of contemporary art, opening a new way to experience this rapidly evolving platform.
Take a journey through the six realms, each with a distinct theme; curated by the Barbican, London with the celebrated game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi as guest-curator.
From playful adventures in unchartered worlds, to meditative reflections on life itself, join us in this physical and communal environment.
Important Information
This event is wheelchair accessible.
50% visual content rating – Virtual Realms has both sound and visual components.
50% aural content rating – Virtual Realms has background music and sounds.
Synesthesia
Sound levels: 90dB
Flashing lights: 60hrz
Low light levels
Unity
Flashing lights: 60 hrz
Low light levels
Narrative
One single two-metre entrance/exit
Connection
Low light levels
The visuals and sounds across each space can be experienced without English language comprehension.
Seating is available within the exhibition, room depending. If you have any questions about access at WA Museum Boola Bardip, please get in touch with us either via reception@museum.wa.gov.au or on 1300 134 081.
You can contact WA Museum Boola Bardip through the National Relay Service:
TTY users phone 133 677
Speak and Listen users phone 1300 555 727
Alternatively, use the National Relay Service website.
Virtual Realms
Our team will be taking every precaution to ensure your safety within the space. Shared surfaces are regularly sanitised, and hand sanitisers will be available upon entrance to the exhibition.
Some elements of the exhibition are tactile. In each space physical interaction is a choice, not a necessity. Patrons can observe the experience as they so choose.
Room capacities have been placed so all patrons can enjoy each realm to the maximum experience, and to ensure social distancing.
Visiting WA Museum Boola Bardip
At the Western Australian Museum, the health and safety of our visitors, volunteers and employees is our priority. Find out more about our COVID-19 precautions here.
For more information about these requirements and valid forms of proof of exemption, visit the WA Government Website.
Entry to this exhibition is ticketed, WA Museum Boola Bardip is free. The Museum is open daily from 9.30am to 5pm.
Discover transport options and other resources for your visit here.
Enjoy the Virtual Realms exhibition in a comfortable environment that supports children and adults with sensory needs.
Quiet hour sessions are available:
- Saturday 2 April | 8am – 9.30am
- Saturday 30 April | 8am – 9.30am
- Saturday 14 May | 8am – 9.30am
During our quiet sessions, Virtual Realms will open prior to general public access and be modified for a gentler sensory experience.
- Numbers will be limited to reduce crowds.
- Lights and sounds will be turned down where possible.
- A designated quiet area will be available for visitors to use should they require a break.
All ages are welcome. Children must be accompanied by an adult guardian.
Can't visit during the day? Enjoy the Virtual Realms exhibition in the evening.
Open Late sessions are available:
Friday 6 May | 5pm, 6pm, 7pm
Friday 13 May | 5pm, 6pm, 7pm
Friday 20 May | 5pm, 6pm, 7pm
During our Open Late session, you can enjoy the Virtual Realms exhibition in the early evening with our very own pop-up bar.
All ages are welcome. Children must be accompanied by an adult guardian.
Want to enhance your evening? Join us for Open Lights, Open Sound for a unique audio visual experience, plus access to the Virtual Realms exhibition. Find out more here.
About Tetsuya Mizuguchi
‘By creating these exciting new collaborations, Virtual Realms offers game developers a unique opportunity to break free from the constraints of consoles and formal game playing and really push the boundaries of how video games can be experienced together. This exhibition paves the way for a future where the world of the videogame spills out beyond the screen.'
Tetsuya Mizuguchi is an award-winning Japanese videogame designer, producer and media artist. He has led the creation of boundary pushing games and media projects investigating multi-sensory experiences. At the core of his work lies the experience of synesthesia, the crossing of the senses.
Recent examples of his work include the award-winning virtual reality (VR) games Rez Infinite (2016), Tetris Effect (2018), and synesthetic experiential devices including the Synesthesia Suit (2016) and Synesthesia X1 (2019).
Explore the Realms
Enhance and Rhizomatiks
Within this realm, your senses will be transported to new dimensions; where sounds can be seen, and visuals felt.
On entering, you become a part of the pulsing rhythmic beat, and a ‘traveller’ on a journey. For those travellers performing with the haptic spheres, you carry in your hands the seeds of life.
When holding the spheres, move and interact together to sculpt the light and shape the sounds to the rhythm; your performance will create a synesthetic metamorphosis for everyone in the space to experience.
David OReilly and onedotzero
This realm celebrates the capacity of videogames to generate expansive universes and give shape to the infinite potential of our imagination.
Rotate the three oversized controllers to play with the ‘flow’, ‘scale’ and ‘warp’ of the shifting kaleidoscopic formations on the screen.
Experience a visual journey through time, from the Big Bang to the end of the Universe. With soft spongey seating to lounge on and a synchronised soundtrack from the London Symphony Orchestra, sit back and bathe in this psychedelic wonder.
Media Molecule and Marshmallow Laser Feast
A helmet connects you to the virtual world of Dreams, while the oversized soft shapes in the play space are your props.
Moving through the three acts of play, you will be transported from a multicoloured ball pit to the creation of the Universe, and back.
Sharing shapes and experimenting with movements around the space will create a spectacle within both the physical and virtual worlds.
KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS and The Mill
The wall divides two opposing worlds: one alive with biological cells; and the other flowing with galactic energy particles. Explore these two spaces and find ways to communicate between them.
As you approach the wall, the cells and cosmic particles will respond to your presence, dividing and clustering as you grow nearer, and creating mesmerising patterns with your every movement.
Amongst your interactions and imprints, traces of other silhouettes will emerge, and snapshots of past interactions replayed. These signs of life within or beyond the wall hint to the structure as a channel of communication between different spaces and time.
Tequila Works and The Workers
This realm showcases the power of videogames to tell stories and create new forms of fiction.
Discover the notion of an infinite story with neither 'any beginning or end'. Follow the lead of the spotlights, stepping into the circles of light to trigger changes on screen such as the crumbling of statues or the shifting of night into day.
Depending on your choices and how you collaborate, each rendition of the narrative will be different.
thatgamecompany and FIELD,IO
Explore the relationship between movement, light, and sound and use your presence to influence the composition of the space.
As you move beneath the circular light sculpture, music and audio fragments are triggered, and a choreography of light sequences unfold.
By working together and collaborating, the fragments of light and melody will build, culminating in a collective crescendo and a moment of unity for all to experience.
Meet Michelle Sandford
Michelle Sandford is a Microsoft Developer Engagement Lead, Tedx Speaker, Australian Computer Society WA Chairman, previously one of MCV's 30 Most Influential Women in Games and now, ambassador for Virtual Realms: Videogames Transformed.
Look for Michelle across our digital platforms as she provides insights into how to explore the realms and sneak peeks of what's to come.
Virtual Realms is curated and organised by the Barbican, London with the celebrated game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi as guest-curator.
The exhibition is a co-production with ArtScience Museum, Singapore and Melbourne Museum and is made possible with the support of HP Inc., Vicon, Epic MegaGrants and London Symphony Orchestra.
