Travelling VR-exhibition explores future of libraries at Goethe-Institut

Interactive installation engages visitors through multisensory storytelling

The Goethe-Institut Irland has announced that it will host a travelling virtual reality (VR) exhibition at its premises on Merrion Square, Dublin, which invites visitors to reimagine the future of libraries as interactive spaces that offer multisensory forms of storytelling.

 Entitled ‘The Infinite Library’, the multimedia installation offers visitors an immersive experience, using VR, holograms, 3D-printed objects, a QR code game and audio-visual works. The installation’s central piece is a vast VR library, set in a cave, in which visitors can explore a series of smaller sub-libraries, dedicated to topics as diverse as Polynesian navigation, South-Indian puppetry and European alchemy.

 The exhibition was created by the Goethe-Institut in conjunction with internationally renowned multimedia artist and creative director of the exhibition, Mika Johnson. Commenting ahead of the exhibition opening at the Goethe-Institut in Dublin, he said: “The Infinite Library seeks to embed human stories within a much grander narrative, one which includes the birth of our planet and the evolution of all life forms.

 “It reimagines what we generally understand a library to be and offers a glimpse of what a library might look like in the future. The virtual library space at the heart of the installation is conceived as a living organism, a kind of embodiment of knowledge that introduces itself to visitors personally before inviting them to explore its house.”

 Director of the Goethe-Institut Irland, Franziska Höfler, added: “As a cultural institute with a busy library, we are excited to reimagine what a library visit in the future might entail. Experience and knowledge were recorded and exchanged long before the advent of books and other media, and it is inspiring to explore how, through the use modern technology, libraries around the world might evolve in the years to come.”

 The Infinite Library will open at the Goethe-Institut Irland on Saturday, 23rd July and run for one week, until Friday, 29th July, excluding Sunday, 24th July, when the exhibition will be closed. The exhibition is free to visit and all are welcome.

For more information, visit goethe.de/Ireland.