DESCRIPTION

Also called digital or online exhibitions, virtual exhibitions are those which take place online, accessible via the internet, and are various in format depending on the discipline. In most cases, these are free to access by anyone. Virtual exhibitions may be created specifically to display and facilitate the public viewing of art, both digitised and digitally-created, but can also be applied interdisciplinarily to various humanities and multidisciplinary projects. The most dominant applications are in the cultural heritage sectors and in GLAM sector spaces (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums), and their use had a substantial uptick as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in early 2020 (Amorim & Teixeira, 2020; Hoffman, 2020; King et al., 2020). However the history of virtual exhibitions is rooted in virtual endeavours as far back as the 1990s (Doyle, 2024).

An online exhibition can be as simple as the presentation of artworks or artifacts on a static webpage via images or other files, which can be photographs, videos, 3D models, or audio, amongst others. Alternatively, a virtual three-dimensional space may be created for the viewer, to create the physical sensation of exploring the gallery or space, which can be experienced on a computer screen or more immersively via Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR). Virtual representations of actual museums and galleries are one approach, but another is the creation of a fully-digital virtual space that does not mirror one that already exists in physical space, such as those created within New Art City, or the 'LOOK UP!' virtual exhibition created by the National Institute for Astrophysics (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, or INAF) in Italy, built to virtually display to visitors an extensive collection of historical celestial atlases (Giacomo, 2023, 508).

While there are a great many examples of online and virtual exhibitions across disciplines as various as art, theatre, performance, and environmental, geographical, and medical humanities (as well as literature surrounding technologies (Chiarenza et al., 2019; Sylaiou, 2024; Tan, 2021; Wang & Wang, 2021), museum or cultural heritage institution applications (Ciurea and Filip, 2016; Häkkilä et al., 2022), and use in education (Salar et al., 2013)), direct analysis of virtual exhibitions as tools or practices in open research has proven difficult to find, which presents an opportunity.

Egger and Ackerman (2020) consider the impact of online exhibitions on curatorial practices, highlighting that the digital nature of exhibiting 'expands the curatorial work with regard to its modes of production, presentation and reception', regardless of 'the curation's purpose, be it the display of a genuinely digital artwork or a digital framework for art' (3.19). As Egger and Ackerman further emphasise, the '[i]nternet has completely changed the criteria for space and time in exhibiting' (3.20). The authors also consider challenges in the developing internet landscape: while virtual exhibitions can be built on their own websites, those that are 'not embedded in or shown through social media channels [...] may elude the mechanisms of commercial companies' that control digital infrastructure, access, and algorithms, which can make them more difficult to find. Digital exhibitions built from scratch also often 'cost more effort and require expertise' (Egger & Ackerman, 2020, 3.22).

Despite these challenges, online exhibitions have a great many benefits in terms of openness. The simple existence of the exhibition in an online space that is free to access provides 'accessibility, horizontal sovereignty of interpretation and multiperspectivity in a transparent and experimental way'(Egger & Ackerman, 2020, 3.23). Online exhibitions often offer a level of participation and inclusion that is not as equally present in a physical space. Valjakka (2021) raises Grau's (2002) point that '"interactivity and virtuality call into question the distinction between author and observer"' (Grau, 2002, via Valjakka, 2021, 126). Likewise, Doyle (2024) explores the phenomenology of embodiment within virtual exhibition experiences, examining the potential of hybridity and the sensory experience of immersive technologies.

Jarrar (2022, 34) considers the online art platform, created and run by artists themselves, as an avenue for the creation of online exhibitions for individual artists. Struggles and disparities in the institutional and commercial art worlds have turned artists in less-privileged geographical locations or societal positions towards virtual art spaces, offering a democratised alternative to reach a broader audience. New Art City (NAC), an artist-run virtual toolkit and exhibition space created to support marginalised and underrepresented artists, is the primary case study examined in Jarrar's thesis on virtual exhibition spaces and cultural democracy. An art platform, more generally, may be 'a stand-alone website, a larger platform section, or an area within corporate services', 'run by individuals, open-access, and mainly for non-commercial uses'(Jarrar, 2022, 9, 10).

New Art City's mission is to 'develop an accessible toolkit for building virtual installations that show born-digital artifacts alongside digitized works of traditional media' (Jarrar, 2022, 32, from the NAC website). NAC also sets out to redistribute art privileges more justly by using income charged to institutions who can afford payment for use of the site's virtual exhibition space to subsidise artists who have fewer resources. Other resources redistributed by NAC are space, media coverage, and tools of production (Jarrar, 2022, 37). Hosting a digital exhibition on the site is in fact free for individuals. This redistribution results in more freedom for artists who are marginalised, as well as those who may explore challenging themes in their art. Their toolkit is designed for those less privileged with technology or digital media experience, with public tutorials provided. The toolkit also has 'real-time space editing in the [virtual] gallery space', and a 'collaborative exhibition-making function, where a group of people can collaborate in real-time or offline to make an exhibition', opening up the participatory aspect of online exhibition creation (Jarrar, 2022, 40). These features of the New Art City platform increase opportunities for openness among artists, suggesting potential learnings for academic institutions.

Virtual exhibitions also offer accessibility features and freedoms that in-person galleries do not. Those who are confined geographically or by physical disability may still view the art from wherever they are. Wolf et al. (2018) also found nearly half of the participants attending an authentically historical location, Otto Weidt Museum for the Blind, via VR interface felt that information accessibility was improved by the experience (55, 83). In this sense, the virtual exhibition is a far more open practice of dissemination for artists than shows in physical galleries, museums, or exhibition spaces, though as previously mentioned, there are inevitable questions and tradeoffs around the experience provided in each format.

References

Amorim, J.P., Teixeira, L., and Universidade Católica Portuguesa, School of Arts, CCD/CITAR (2020) 'Art in the Digital During and After Covid: Aura and Apparatus of Online Exhibitions', Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 12(5). https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s1n2

Chiarenza, S., Accardi, A.R.D. and Inglisa, R. (2019) 'Technological Innovation and New Presentation Strategies for Virtual Museum Exhibitions', The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLII-2-W15, 311–318. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W15-311-2019

Ciurea, C. and Filip, F.G. (2016) 'New Researches on the Role of Virtual Exhibitions in Digitization, Preservation and Valorization of Cultural Heritage', Informatica Economica, 20(4/2016), 26–33. https://doi.org/10.12948/issn14531305/20.4.2016.03

Doyle, D. (2024) Digital Embodiment and the Arts: Exploring Hybrid Spaces through Emerging Technologies. Intellect. https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/145845

Egger, B. and Ackermann, J. (2020) 'Meta-Curating: Online Exhibitions Questioning Curatorial Practices in the Postdigital Age', International Journal for Digital Art History, (5), 3.18-3.35. https://doi.org/10.11588/dah.2020.5.72123

Giacomo, F.D. et al. (2023) '"Look up!" a Virtual Exhibition About the Historical Astronomical Atlases', in The International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Gottingen, Germany: Copernicus GmbH, 507–510. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-M-2-2023-507-2023

Häkkilä, J. et al. (2022) 'Pluriverse Perspectives in Designing for a Cultural Heritage Context in the Digital Age', in Artistic Cartography and Design Explorations Towards the Pluriverse. Routledge

Hoffman, S.K. (2020) 'Online Exhibitions during the COVID-19 Pandemic', Museum Worlds, 8(1), 210–215. https://doi.org/10.3167/armw.2020.080115

Jarrar, A. (2022) Artist-Run Virtual Exhibition Spaces & Cultural Democracy: New Art City as A Case Study

King, E. et al. (2021) 'Digital Responses of UK Museum Exhibitions to the COVID-19 Crisis, March – June 2020', Curator: The Museum Journal, 64(3), 487–504. https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12413

Public Engagement, Events and Exhibitions Guidance for Researchers at the University of Edinburgh (2021). University of Edinburgh. https://edin.ac/3Cz4OTP

Salar, H.C. et al. (2013) 'Online (Virtual) Exhibitions Application in Education', DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 33(3), 176–182. https://doi.org/10.14429/djlit.33.4603

Sylaiou, S. et al. (2024) 'From Physical to Virtual Art Exhibitions and Beyond: Survey and Some Issues for Consideration for the Metaverse', Journal of Cultural Heritage, 66, 86–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2023.11.002

Tan, S. (2021) 'Virtual Experience in Augmented Exhibition. Virtual Technology Application in Real Museums and Its Impact on Exhibition Spaces'. https://www.politesi.polimi.it/handle/10589/171010 [accessed 25 November 2025]

Valjakka, M. (2021) 'From Material Ephemerality to Immaterial Permanency: The disCONNECT Exhibition and the Realms of Interactive Immersiveness', Nuart journal, 3, 1(1), 120–133

Wang, C. and Wang, H. (2021) 'On the Status Quo and Application of Online Virtual Art Exhibition Technologies', in 2021 International Conference on Culture-oriented Science & Technology (ICCST). 2021 International Conference on Culture-oriented Science & Technology (ICCST), 253–257. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCST53801.2021.00061

Wolf, K., Reinhardt, J. and Funk, M. (2018) 'Virtual Exhibitions: What Do We Win and What Do We Lose?', in Proceedings of the Conference on Electronic Visualisation and the Arts. Swindon, GBR: BCS Learning & Development Ltd. (EVA '18), pp. 79–86. https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/EVA2018.15