This exhibit is Sold Out through the end of its run on August 30.
By Rachel M.
The Museum of Future Experiences (MoFE) is an experience that blends immersive theater with individually prescribed virtual reality dreams, tuned to your deepest hopes and fears. It’s a fully immersive, multi-sensory experience blending immersive theater and personalized VR. In groups of six or fewer, you are guided through a 60-minute cerebral exploration that includes individual analysis, audio-visual stimulation, and dreamlike virtual reality curated to your individual psyche.
The installation asks you to advance through the four stages of MoFE under the guidance of a trained facilitator. It’s very interactive, and you engage in a process of self-reflection through survey questions and discussions with your guide. The very immersive VR allows you to let your mind wander as you bask in the rich soundscape and kaleidoscope of projection art.
The startup is part of the current batch of companies at Y Combinator and is creating a different type of VR experience – one that is unique for each visitor. First, you answer questions about your hopes and fears that reveal your subconscious and shape the content that you see. Then you enter a room where you don the VR goggles and a headset and enter the VR created for you. A second room hosts a more communal VR that includes wearing a contraption that allows you to feel like part of the simulation. The visions include a nuclear holocaust and a post-apocalyptic landscape, not a very calming vision.
The VR at MoFE was created by an artist named Flatsitter, and supposedly has enough content so that you can visit a few times without any repeats. When I attended, there was a repeat customer who said her second time was very different than her original visit.
At the end, the group is encouraged to spend time discussing the experience with each other. The guides add a lot to the visit, differentiating MoFE from VR gaming or entertainment.
MoFE is a limited engagement, running through the end of August at 76 Wooster Street. It is already sold out for this next week, but you can join the mailing list to find out about future exhibits at https://www.themofe.com/#sign-up
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