Mauritshuis to use virtual reality for exhibition on looted art

This autumn, the Mauritshuis in The Hauge will present an exhibition on looted art, where visitors can experience the history of looted objects through Virtual Reality.

The museum believes that its exhibition is up to date in all respects. “Many museums in the Netherlands and abroad have been conducting research into the provenance of their collections in recent years. This concerns both art with a war past, stolen from Jewish owners, and colonial looted art. By properly mapping the history of the objects, we can think about the future of this looted art.”

The Mauritshuis itself has a personal link with the subject. “Our core collection hung in the Louvre from 1795 to 1815, stolen from The Hague by the French occupier.”

Technology company HP Netherlands will contribute to the exhibit Roofkunst - 10 verhalen. “In this exhibition, ten historical (art) objects tell the story that looted art is timeless. HP supplies workstations for Roofkunst that allow the visitor to experience the history of the looted object through Virtual Reality.” HP will assist the museum more often in making art accessible digitally, with which it also hopes to attract other and young visitors.

The Creative Storytelling Studio Jongsma + O’Neill artistically shaped the VR experience in Roofkunst. The museum did not say which objects the exhibit would include or when it would start.