From The Met to the World: Discover the Stories of Oceania in a New Virtual Exhibition
For the past year, visitors to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing have been captivated by 650 extraordinary artworks from across Oceania — spanning New Guinea, the coastal archipelagos stretching north into the central and eastern Pacific, Australia, and island Southeast Asia.
To mark the first anniversary of The Met's Arts of Oceania galleries, the new Oceania: A New Horizon of Space and Time experience — available on Meta Quest and desktop — is bringing the physical show’s spirit to anyone who can't visit in person. Honoring indigenous origins, ceremony, and ancestral power with 15 of the full collection’s artworks set in a lush space, the virtual exhibition helps people learn about hundreds of years of Oceania’s history and culture.
Opening and closing with song, this immersive journey was designed to evoke the feeling of a full day. Visitors are greeted with a welcoming sunrise chant from Papua New Guinean cultural advisor Dr. Michael Mel and conclude with a sunset poroporoaki (farewell) by Māori leader Che Wilson. The goal is to inspire people to reflect on the time they spent, the stories they heard, and the ways art connects us all through places and time.
Storytelling Through Immersive Fidelity
Bringing the gallery to life digitally required both technical precision and cultural depth. The Met's imaging department meticulously 3D scanned the 15 included pieces to ensure they were faithfully reproduced in the virtual space, while contemporary artists, scholars, and cultural practitioners from across the Pacific lent their knowledge and perspective to the project.
“This attempts to meaningfully break from the limitations of physical space and ‘museum rules,’” says Brett Renfer, Senior Project Manager, Emerging Technology at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Visitors can see objects in a virtual version of their original context and can even ‘handle’ some of the artworks.”
The result is an enthralling experience that enables people to get eye-to-eye with art and interact with the works in ways that are most relevant to them.
“More than anything, we want people to connect with art,” says Renfer. “We see The Met as a convener, a place that brings together art, stories, and people — and we hope virtual visitors see this reflected in this experience.”
Oceania: A New Horizon of Space and Time is available now on the Meta Horizon Store and metmuseum.org. We invite you to explore this virtual landscape and discover the worlds of stories contained within each artwork.
