The Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle invites you from this Saturday December 23, 2017 to discover its Virtual Reality Cabinet. Head to the Gallery of Evolution to discover the first ever permanent virtual reality room set in France.
A new area that offers us to live out a unique experience where virtual reality becomes a teaching tool for scientific knowledge mixing emotion and discovery. Always looking for innovations, the museum is always trying to give its knowledge to the greatest numbers. Here’s a playful and accessible way that is likely to please many people.
Climb to the third floor of the Gallery of Evolution to discover this new area that aims at being cozy and pleasant. The Virtual Reality Cabinet features 5 stations each equipped with a HTC Vive latest generation virtual reality set. So, 5 visitors can live out the experience at the same time, eventually accompanied by someone else that can follow what they see on a video screen.
The whole display has been studied to meet an ecofriendly process (light, material…). And for a smooth experience in your own bubble, the noise insulation and the dynamic light accompany you throughout the journey.
Please note that the area has been created to be evolutive and adapt to the varied types of experiences (contemplative, interactive, seated, standing, moving…) and to the quick evolution of technologies.
But, what do you see? For its start, the Museum National obviously decided to make you live out an experience related to the permanent exhibition of the Gallery. The “Journey in to the heart of Evolution” is all yours.
The Museum national d’histoire naturelle and Orange Foundation partnered to create the first project displaying the tree of the living in virtual reality (an app already available for free). This unique experience allows you to explore the living, represented in the form of a 3D bushing sphere in which you can immerse yourself and with which you can interact. You can then discover over 450 emblematic current and fossil species from the living, ask about the kinship and go back to the unique origin of life, 3.5 billion years ago (LUCA).
Once the helmet is set on your head and you’ve got the two joysticks on your wrists, you’re immersed in a digital universe. Your space is delimited by a fictive grid pattern like a diving cage. The room takes another dimension, much bigger, as if you were in the milky way. A voice leads you to simply explain you how to interact and understand species.
Who’s related to whom? Who shares what with who and for how long? Is the categorization as we’ve been taught at school still valid? What does science teach us? In 15 minutes, we learn much more about species evolution. We play by trying to guess what animal species (living or disappeared) are the closest and why, we can discover a whole range of animals and insects in real size that we can widen or shrink at will. It’s impressive, funny and ultimately, we lose track of time.
In the future, a range of several journeys will be offered with a varied program according to sessions. A catalog that will change with the seasons and according to the museum’s news.
Practical information:
Virtual Reality Cabinet at Paris Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle
Address: 36 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire – 75005 Paris
Open on Wednesdays, weekends and school breaks (excluding on Tuesdays)
Sessions from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., upon registration
Available to all from 12 years old
Unique rate: €5 in addition to the visit of the permanent exhibition of the Gallery of Evolution
Online reservation: mnhn.fr/vr
Exceptionally, the access will be free of charge during the Holidays 2017, mandatory reservation.
Location
National Museum of Natural History
36, rue Geoffroy Saint Hilaire
75005 Paris 5
Prices
pendant les vacances de Noël: Free
en plus du prix d'entrée à la galerie: €5
Recommended age
From 12 years old
