How a VR Museum Will Tell LGBTQ+ Stories
By Mathew Olson
June 28, 2021

While I enjoyed a week of rest and relaxation away from VR and AR (and, most of thetime, WiFi), there was still plenty of news during 2021’s frst week of summer. In thenewsletter’s last installment, I covered Facebook’s frst foray into advertising inside VRgames. Those plans quickly changed: Resolution Games, developers of the multiplayer VR title
Blaston, pulled back from using that game as the frst testbed for Facebook’s new ads.
Lest we take this as a sign that VR ads are dead on arrival, Resolution will instead be testingout these ads in Bait!, a free fshing game. Backlash and backpedaling always grab attention,

so I’m curious to see if Facebook’s test will fy under the radar now that we have been throughthe Blaston news cycle.
Last week, we also learned that VRChat raised $80 million in a round led by Anthos Capital,
one of the bigger VR deals of the year so far. As it stands today, VRChat is practically theantithesis to the kinds of content Facebook could hope to monetize with ads—it has safetymeasures and moderation tools in place, but it is also a platform where users create andshare mature content and regularly skirt copyright restrictions. The infux of cash could meanbetter tools and paths toward monetization for those same creators, but growth could also
bring limits on expression.
As virtual and augmented reality evolve, we’re likely to see the demands of business and thewishes of users clash in unexpected ways. The opportunity to use VR as a means of selfexpression, and as a venue for activism, is an issue I discussed recently with Antonia Forster,a technical specialist at Unity, which makes the engine used by many of today’s mostprominent VR and AR apps.
Pride Month Meets the Power of VR
A few years ago, Forster made waves with a TED talk on diversity in sexuality and gender in the
animal kingdom by pushing back against the notion that heterosexuality and monogamy arenatural norms.
While Forster has since moved on from zoology research, she has forged a path that
integrates LGBTQ+ advocacy into explorations of virtual reality. In her role at Unity, Forster
leads regular talks on topics like VR training and 3D scanning. Forster now is aiming to launcha personal project before the end of July that unites her activism and her expertise inimmersive technology.
The LGBTQ+ VR museum, a frst-of-its-kind exhibit, will be viewable using VR headsets like theQuest 2. The digital museum collects images of artwork from LGBTQ+ artists around theworld, exhibited alongside 3D scans of real-world objects. Each object will be accompanied byan audio recording from its contributor explaining the object’s ties to their personal journey—how it was integral to their coming out, or how it was attached to a feeling of gender euphoria.
I spoke with Forster ahead of the museum’s launch to discuss the unique opportunities andchallenges presented by curating works in VR. We also discussed Forster’s hopes for how
immersive technologies like AR and VR will contribute to activism and self-expression. This
conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The Information: What initially spurred your interest in VR and AR, and how did that pathlead you to working at Unity?
Antonia Forster: My background is actually in zoology and animal behavior. I started outworking in laboratories studying animal behavior, and moved into science communication as apresenter at zoos and science centers. Eventually I started working in the U.K.'s only 3D
planetarium, in Bristol. I became interested in 360 degree 3D content, and how I could usethat in the dome. From there, it was a sort of natural leap to moving into virtual reality.
I taught myself Unity, and C#, using online resources like Udemy and YouTube videos. I think I
spent maybe 10 pounds (about $14) in total on my VR education. Afer about a year of this, Ibecame a full-time VR developer at a company called Ultraleap, who do hand tracking. I
eventually got a call from Unity to combine my background in public speaking with myexperience as an AR/VR developer as an XR technical specialist.
Being an LGBTQ+ activist working in a growing medium, do you feel like there is more
opportunity to efect change than there is in more established felds?
Yes. I think, in some ways, tech democratizes the ability to tell stories.
I think one of the very best things that technology can do is not only give everyone the ability toplatform the stories that they feel are important, but also to unlock new ways to tell thosestories. VR and AR give creators the unique ability to put you in someone's shoes, as it were,and walk you through their story.
The museum’s centerpiece is a 3D scan of a real-life monument. How did you select thepiece, secure permission to exhibit it and then capture its fne details for VR?

For context, “Memorial to a Marriage” (2002) is a marble statue by the artist Patricia Cronin.
It's an absolutely beautiful work that depicts two women lying, covered in a sheet, sort ofentangled. It depicts Patricia herself and her now wife (artist Deborah Kass), created at a time
when it was not legal for them to be married. The only legal recognition that queer couples
would have was in death certifcates or hospital admissions—documentation around mortality.
So Patricia created the work to ensure that they would be recognized as a couple, if only indeath, and it was installed on their grave plot in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. The
monument on the plot was replaced by a bronze version, while the marble one is now inPatricia's studio.
The story behind it was incredibly moving to me, as someone who has been in the closet for
the vast majority of their life and who struggled with homophobic responses when I came out.
So I reached out on Twitter to ask if anyone knew Patricia. She responded directly, saying that
she would love to be involved. I had a connection in New York, Jesslyn, who was able to go to
Patricia’s studio herself and take Covid-safe measures. She took a series of photographs ofthe marble original from as many diferent angles as possible.
Then we sent that huge batch of photos to a volunteer who has been absolutely indispensable,
Andrew McHugh. Photogrammetry can struggle with refective materials—so anything that isplain white or anything shiny like metal is difcult to capture correctly. Andrew did an amazing
job correcting any issues and produced the 3D model, which we now have as the centerpiece.
It's the frst and, I believe, still the only monument to marriage equality in the world.
You mentioned that VR can let more people act as curators, but how will you ensure thatthe LGBTQ+ VR museum itself is accessible to a wide audience?
This is a real struggle at the moment. Accessibility was extremely important to me in thisproject. For example, we've subtitled the audio component. We couldn't fnd a plausible way tomake the experience accessible for visually impaired or blind users—it's something I would love
to incorporate in the future, but I don't have enough expertise in that feld as it is. And ofcourse, one of the biggest difculties is access to VR headsets themselves, because noteveryone has a VR headset.

My intention is also to exhibit this at [in-person] festivals. I really wanted to have a web versionof the experience available. As soon as the VR version is released, I want to work on that.
You’re an advocate for self-expression in VR, especially for people using avatars that don’t
look like their physical bodies. How can VR products and experiences be designed in waysthat leave room for freedom of identity?
You want any kind of communal online space to have some level of safety, inclusion andaccessibility. I think some level of moderation is needed for safety, particularly in the immersive
environment of VR, where you have a sense of physical presence. On the other hand, I thinkpolicing someone’s self-expression is damaging. One of the reasons I love VR is that I canexplore gender identities, or non-humanoid physical forms, and not be judged by how I look inreal life. I can have certain aspects of identity as an option, particularly if I'm not using voice. SoI think there’s a fne line to be walked between moderation for safety, and heavy policing, which
limits expression. I don't have the answer on the best way to do that.
What I hope to see is inclusive, diverse spaces and—in particular—more diverse creators.
When we enter a world in virtual, mixed or augmented reality, we're really entering theimagination of someone. If we're only entering worlds created by one demographic, that's atroubling and problematic situation to be in.

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