We had a list of museums we’d hoped to visit, but time was tight. The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) museum won out this rainy day.
A docent gave us a most kind overview, listening to our interests and helping plan a route. None of that would matter because the museum’s floorplan is a hedge maze with dead ends.
On the flip side? Every dead end revealed delightful sections we hadn’t considered.
We spent the entire day there, exploring sculpture, medieval and renaissance, Buddhism, Korea, the Raphael Cartoons (large murals), fashion (though we decided not to spend 40 bucks on the Naomi Campbell exhibit), ironwork, design, architecture, furniture, photography, ceramics and the “Cast Courts” (huge, tall galleries with replicas of world famous art and sculpture as seen above).
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That evening we’d made a long trek east to experience ABBA Voyage. (Three years ago when I saw a segment about their reunion and this concert on CBS Sunday Morning, I never thought I’d experience it… I was v. excited.)
First off, they’re not using holograms. They call them “ABBAtars” (silly) — essentially it’s a animated concert using motion capture from the original members of band, brought to life by Industrial Light & Magic (of Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Avatar fame). There’s a real band off to the side, vocals and some of the guitars and keys are canned.
Everything plays out on a really large HD screen in a custom built theater with synchronized lights that work with, and sometimes seemingly through, the screen. If you just look at the band at human scale, they appear perfectly real at their flared and sparkly best. It’s amazing.
They also have two screens flanking the stage for closeups, as you would with modern concerts. This is where the illusion ended. Those CGI renders often looked like PS5 cutscenes, especially with direct lighting on the models.
That said? It did not detract from the experience one iota.
If anything it painted a picture of what this technology might hold.
My only issue was some unresolved anime story that didn’t feature the ABBAtars for a couple of songs.
No photos were allowed, but you can see little glimpses at the 2:20 mark of this video if you’re so inclined.
