The National Portrait Gallery has launched a groundbreaking virtual reality experience called "Stories Brought to Life," created in partnership with Frameless Creative, a leading London-based company specializing in immersive experiences. This innovative project represents a major achievement in visual storytelling, successfully combining insights from both the art and technology worlds while addressing the experiential needs of modern audiences that have evolved since Facebook (now Meta) acquired headset maker Oculus Rift in 2014, marking the beginning of a new era in virtual reality.

The project directly responds to a challenge posed by The Art Newspaper in January 2024, when consultant Chris Michaels published an analysis examining how established museums could tap into the public's growing appetite for comprehensive digital spectacle. His article explored how traditional art institutions might partner with immersive venues to reach new audiences, referencing successful examples like teamLab's installations, the Sphere in Las Vegas, and Outernet in central London. Michaels emphasized that for many museums, engaging with immersive technology is not a question of if, but when.

Annabelle Selldorf, the architect behind the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing remodeling, highlighted the effectiveness of immersive digital experiences in an interview with The Art Newspaper last December. She expressed fascination with Outernet's street-accessible five-sided video experience, noting how "everybody stops" when encountering it. Selldorf explained her hope that the new large digital screen in the Sainsbury Wing entrance, which opened in May, would create a similarly welcoming atmosphere and reduce visitor anxiety about entering a historic gallery while making "people curious in a different way."

The National Portrait Gallery's approach to immersive technology takes a unique direction by partnering with Frameless to tell compelling stories of both historical and contemporary figures. The experience draws from the museum's extensive holdings to present narratives about diverse personalities including Queen Elizabeth I, Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, David Bowie, and Ncuti Gatwa. This traveling experience made its debut at a temporary location in MediaCity in Manchester, demonstrating how a London-based institution can bring its national collection to other cities, with additional locations planned for the future.

Ryan Atwood, creative director of Frameless Creative, worked alongside the museum's visual archive and renowned production studio Cinesite to develop a series of visually striking, graphically sophisticated yet accessible 150-second stories. The experience takes place in a specially constructed 10,000 square foot structure, where audiences can either stand or sit on benches positioned at the center of a square space. Visitors follow the action across two of the four walls while the same content is mirrored on the facing walls, creating dynamic animation without requiring viewers to strain their necks or experience disorienting head movements.

The visual presentation utilizes an irregular mosaic of square and rectangular screens that can display either individual images or fragments of larger compositions, allowing for striking visual variety and dynamic pacing. During the Winston Churchill segment, for example, flights of Spitfire aircraft race across the walls with synchronized surround sound, creating one of many memorable moments in the immersive storytelling experience. This technical approach successfully brings historical and contemporary figures to life through cutting-edge technology while maintaining accessibility for diverse audiences.

"Stories Brought to Life" runs as part of the Unframed exhibition at The Piazza in MediaCity, Salford Quays, through August 31st, representing a significant step forward in how traditional cultural institutions can embrace immersive technology to engage new audiences and reimagine the presentation of their collections.