ArtVilnius’20 Art Fair’s Big News – Virtual 3D Tour

If you weren’t able to visit the contemporary art fair ArtVilnius’20 at LITEXPO last weekend, you will be able to do it virtually. The organizers of the fair, together with the current culture and art news portal Voxart.lt, invite you to walk around the galleries of the fair and view or even purchase the works exhibited in them in a virtual 3D tour.

The idea of offering visitors to ArtVilnius’20 a virtual 3D tour dates back to the time before the global pandemic, the emergence of which further encouraged the organizers not to wait and offer innovative solutions to their audience. You can find the virtual tour on the ArtVilnius’20 website, section 3D tour.

“Undoubtedly, the pandemic has forced the organizers of many fairs to use more and more technology. Virtual access to works of art, when our mobility is restricted, becomes a necessity. Virtual fair tours have become popular relatively recently, and this year, entirely virtual art fairs have been launched for the first time in the global art market. They take place not only online, but also in specially designed digital worlds. There, you can buy a work of art just by sitting at your computer screen,” says Diana Stomienė, the head of ArtVilnius’20, pleased that the event keeps pace with trends in global fairs.

A virtual 3D tour of the ArtVilnius’20 halls provides an opportunity to visit the art fair from home. “We tried to create the most realistic impression, so it is possible to see the booths of the galleries participating in this year’s fair and the works presented in them in detail,” says Matas Drukteinis, creator of the virtual tour and head of the culture and art portal Voxart.lt., adding that in this 3D tour, art lovers will definitely feel the atmosphere of the fair and get to know the works of artists. Different and interesting, they allow us to understand the diversity of trends, styles, and currents of visual art.

While organizing the virtual ArtVilnius’20 3D tour, the biggest challenge for the Voxart.lt team was the size of the fair. The developers of the virtual tour needed to scan more than 5,000 square meters. This was difficult to do, not only in technological terms but first and foremost in terms of time. The process took about 20 hours and took two nights to photograph when there were no visitors at the fair.

“Spending the whole night among works of art is an indescribable feeling,” says Matas Drukteinis. “Finally, you start to talk or consult with a sculpture or  a painting.” The head of Voxart.lt is glad that the cooperation with the international contemporary art fair, which started five years ago, has not ceased. Matas Drukteinis has no doubt that the virtual tour of the fair will be one of the first digital experiences at Voxart.lt’s new virtual art center, which will be presented to the public at the end of this month.

In addition to the virtual 3D tour, the organizers of ArtVilnius have introduced another digital innovation this year. Instead of paper catalogs, an electronic catalog of fair participants was presented on the ArtVilnius’20 website. It allowed visitors to find the works presented by all the galleries and artists of the fair, their prices, and descriptions.

ArtVilnius’20 is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, under the auspices of Vilnius City Municipality, and under the patronage of the law firm Cobalt.