The Natural History Museum is inviting you to look into the future. A stunning new immersive experience, Visions of Nature, blends reality and virtual experience to show guests what the natural world might look like 100 years from now. And despite what you might think, it’s an experience full of hope and promise.
The new experience opens on October 24 and couples the expertise of Museum scientists with Microsoft’s mixed reality headsets to take guests forward in time to 2125. In a globe-spanning journey, Visions of Nature presents a hopeful look at the future that awaits us. Guests will be surrounded by the sights and sounds of the future natural world, ranging from “harmonious highlands to resilient rainforests”.
Created in a partnership between the Natural History Museum, Microsoft, and SAOLA Studio, Visions of Nature highlights both nature’s own resilience and how scientific progress and intervention have played a helping hand. It also brings the Museum’s collection to life, “including a cuttlefish, Darwin’s frog and coconut crab.”
As you explore, you won’t be alone. You’ll be guided along the way by scientific copilot, Hope, who will be on hand to describe the journey. And what a journey it is. You’ll be invited to hold out your hand for a frog to perch upon. You’ll witness the creation of new species. And you’ll even dive “into the Arctic Ocean [to] experience eight different ecosystems”.
Take a look at what you can expect from the Visions of Nature mixed reality experience here:
Hope for the future
Despite the ravages our planet, and the natural world, are enduring, all hope is not lost. Prospects may seem bleak as the world changes around us. But the NHM wants to inspire visitors to understand that “the actions we take today will help build a better tomorrow.”
The Visions of Nature experience forms part of the Natural History Museum’s ‘Fixing Our Broken Planet’ advocacy program. The program aims to educate visitors on the human impact on our planet. But more than just that, it also wants to inspire them to feel “empowered to protect our fragile planet.”
Said Dr Alex Burch, Director of Public Programmes at the Natural History Museum:
“Visions of Nature is an incredibly exciting, immersive experience – and the first offering of its kind for the Museum. Whilst visually beautiful, it also delivers a powerful message that the actions we take now can have a positive impact on the future.
“It presses fast-forward so visitors can see how nature has responded, for better and for worse, to the aftermath of centuries of human industrial activity as well as to the interventions we have introduced to remedy our unsustainable activity.
“We hope that visitors to Visions of Nature leave with a greater confidence to discuss the type of future they’d like to build and are driven to be part of the response to the planetary emergency.”
Visions of Nature will be open daily from October 24, 2024. Tickets are available now and can be purchased here. Tickets are priced at £9.95. Members can enjoy a 20% discount, bringing the price down to £7.95