From the past to the present - a historical "walk" in VR goggles at the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź

A walk in VR goggles allows Museum guests to see the institution's headquarters from a completely different perspective. In this way, the historic Maurycy Poznański Palace, which houses one of the buildings of the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, gains VR life.  Importantly, the use of the latest technologies gives people with mobility disabilities the opportunity to visit places that are architecturally inaccessible, such as the staircase with beautiful marble steps, the perfectly preserved stained glass window or the ballroom. 
The Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź is the oldest museum of modern art in this part of Europe. The palace, which houses the headquarters of ms1 in Łódź, was a wedding gift from the manufacturer Izrael Poznański to his son Maurycy on the occasion of his wedding to Sara Silberstein. The building was designed by architect Adolf Zeligson.
 

The Museum's collection of several thousand objects is dominated by avant-garde and experimental art, and its origins are the International Collection of Modern Art of the "a.r." group. It was founded by poets and artists: Władysław Strzemiński, Katarzyna Kobro, Julian Przyboś, Henryk Stażewski and Jan Brzękowski. The collection was presented for the first time in 1931 and is a unique collection of works at that time. It represented the works of the best European avant-garde artists, such as Hans Arp, Theo van Doesburg, Max Ernst, Kurt Schwitters, Louis Marcoussis and Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz.  The very idea of ​​creating a museum exhibition of modern art was a unique event on a global scale. The film available on VR goggles brings viewers closer to the story of the museum and its collection, and modern technology makes the images selected from the exhibition literally even closer to the viewer, revealing new visual clues. In the VR walk you can see such paintings as "Creation of the World" by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, "Unistic Composition 12" by Władysław Strzemiński, "Desk 0" by Karol Hiller, "View of the Golden Horn in Constantinople" by Paul Signac, "Spatial Composition 4" by Katarzyna Kobro or “Composition” by Sophie Tauber-Arp.

The Maurycy Poznański Palace became the seat of the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź (today ms1) after 1945. The then director of the institution, Marian Minich, invited Władysław Strzemiński himself to cooperate in arranging the new rooms. This is how the famous Neoplastic Room, the cradle of the European avant-garde, was created in 1948. Its interior is decorated in colors consistent with neoplasticism: red, blue and yellow, and the so-called "non-colors": gray, black and white. The Neoplastic Room was intended to present that part of the International Collection of Modern Art of the "a.r." group, which was related to geometric abstraction, among others, from the circle of neoplasticism. In 2023, the Museum celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Neoplastic Room. On this occasion, the exhibition "Neoplastic Room. Initial State" was prepared.

The VR walk also allows you to "visit" this extraordinary place, very attractive not only to lovers of painting, but also architecture and design.

Virtual tour of the ms1 building
 

Completion time: June 28, 2023 - October 31, 2023
 

The task is carried out from the funds at the disposal of the Center for the Development of Creative Industries under the Program: Development of Creative Sectors 2023.

The total planned cost of implementing the Task is PLN 159,840.00 (in words: one hundred fifty-nine thousand eight hundred forty zlotys and zero groszy).

Co-financing of the Center for the Development of Creative Industries: PLN 135,864.00 (in words: one hundred and thirty-five thousand, eight hundred and sixty-four zlotys, zero groszy)

Co-financing of the Marshal's Office of the Lodzkie Region: PLN 23,976.00 (twenty-three thousand nine hundred and seventy-six zlotys zero groszy)

"Development of Creative Sectors" program

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage