Virtual Reality Tour of the 'Focus of Favorites' Exhibition at the Gilcrease Museum

This paper discusses a virtual reality tour of the "Focus on Favorites, Masterworks from the Gilcrease Collection" exhibition at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The virtual museum tour combines photographs, audio recording, and digitization. The goal was to create an engaging and self-directed interactive experience. The tour relies on photo-spheres and 3D scans of objects to create the visuals. The result is an interactive experience using virtual reality technologies to enhance the immersion of the viewer. It was designed to be used by the Gilcrease on Wheels program for rural school districts and under-served communities in Oklahoma so that these students can experience some of the museum's collection. The target audience for the virtual reality tour which uses the Oculus Rift DK2 is eighth grade students because of restrictions by the manufacturer. For lower grades, the tour can be a group experience accessed via a projector in a lecture setting.