ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Virtual Museums: From VR Replicas to AI-Powered Galleries

digital · 2026-05-04

The article reviews three virtual museum projects. The London Museum of Water & Steam, built in 1975 on an industrial steam generator, offers a free immersive VR replica of its entire building and surroundings, including experiments and dioramas, accessible via HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality. The Museum of ThroughView is an imaginary VR museum with 54 paintings by artists like Rembrandt, Bierstadt, Monet, and early 20th-century photographs by Jacob Riis, featuring realistic environments and a 3D reconstruction of selected paintings on a pedestal, available for €9.90 on HTC Vive. Occupy White Walls is a free early-access video game for Windows that lets players create their own virtual museum using AI, with 1,462 3D objects and reproductions of 18th-19th century and contemporary art, plus a mysterious frog. The article is by Simona Caraceni, published on Artribune Magazine #47.

Key facts

  • London Museum of Water & Steam offers free immersive VR replica of building and surroundings.
  • Museum of ThroughView is an imaginary VR museum with 54 paintings.
  • Occupy White Walls is a free early-access video game for creating virtual museums.
  • London Museum of Water & Steam built in 1975 on an industrial steam generator.
  • Museum of ThroughView features works by Rembrandt, Bierstadt, Monet, Jacob Riis.
  • Occupy White Walls uses AI and has 1,462 3D objects.
  • London Museum of Water & Steam accessible via HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality.
  • Museum of ThroughView costs €9.90 and uses HTC Vive.

Entities

Artists

  • Rembrandt
  • Bierstadt
  • Monet
  • Jacob Riis
  • Simona Caraceni

Institutions

  • London Museum of Water & Steam
  • The Museum of ThroughView
  • Occupy White Walls
  • Artribune Magazine
  • HTC Vive
  • Windows Mixed Reality

Locations

  • London
  • United Kingdom

Sources