Since the launch of HTC’s dedicated VR app store, Viveport, it was clear that the company was looking to give us more ways to discover and experience non-gaming content with the Vive.
There’s so much more to VR than just gaming. Which is probably why HTC has been exploring entirely new ways to bring VR to art, education and culture — starting with museums around the world.
HTC recently collaborated with TIME-LIFE on “Remembering Pearl Harbor,” a VR experience commemorating the 75th anniversary of the attack with exhibitions at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City and the Newsuem in Washington D.C. Last month, Vive also collaborated with the Royal Academy of Arts in London on the world’s first 3-D printed VR art exhibit.
Now HTC Vive has revealed the launch of a new VR center at La Geode, part of Paris’ Science and Industry Museum, as well as a partnership with the Nobel Museum for a first-of-its-kind VR exhibit showcasing the contributions of Nobel laureates.
Geode VR Center
The family-friendly VR center, being called Geode VR, is a brand new space dedicated to virtual reality located at the La Geode in the City of Science and Industry, the biggest science museum in Europe. About five million people visit the Paris museum each year, coming to see attractions like the planetarium, a submarine, an IMAX theater (La Géode) and special areas for children and teenagers.
Now the museum is adding VR to their long list of attractions promoting science and technological culture, with this latest HTC Vive partnership.
The VR center runs until Summer 2017 and will let you experience 360° VR videos in swivel chairs, sit down for some VR gaming, and discover immersive worlds in the HTC Vive powered “Future Lounge”.
The museum brings together groups of up to nine visitors, with a guide giving you a tour of the difference content and hands-on experience with VR hardware. The HTC Vive experiences include TheBlu and content from The Lab.
More information about visiting the center in Paris can be found here.
Nobel Museum VR Exhibit
Coinciding with Nobel Week commemorating the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, HTC and the Nobel Museum have partnered up to create the first VR experience showcasing the contributions of Nobel laureates. The VR experience “Exploring Matter” takes you on a journey through time and space to bring discoveries from some of the greatest cosmologists and physicists to life through VR.
The Nobel Museum and HTC Vive are creating the VR app for a Vive VR exhibit at the Nobel Museum Exhibition in Dubai in February 2017. The VR exhibit will also be shown in the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, and available globally as a free app on Viveport, HTC’s VR app store.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the Nobel Museum as they join virtual reality ecosystem, recognizing the power of VR to deliver memorable and lasting experiences,” said Rikard Steiber, President of Viveport and SVP of VR at HTC. “We believe that the mysteries of space and physics can best be explained when you experience the breakthrough achievements of Nobel Prize winners in VR – imagine being there when the Big Bang happens, or view the Northern Lights up close.”
