Feeling intimidated by a panther before thousands of expectant eyes before flying over the most legendary Rome, and from there breathing the icy tranquility of the Titanic's deck before the collision, and exploring its treasures and memories that still lie at the bottom of the sea. These are experiences that are only in the imagination or, now, in the dome of Las Arenas. The French multinational Eclipso settled at the top of the shopping center in September, with the aim of offering expeditions of the past through virtual reality, as a cultural experience based on the precision of historical details.
There, people walking slowly are distributed throughout a room, while some stretch their hand into nothingness, others smile, and others even seem to recoil in fear. It must be the panther. Or perhaps the iceberg? The room is prepared to host more than one experience simultaneously.
Now, it's the Titanic and the Colosseum: soon, the ascent of Everest will also be added, with the expedition that first conquered it in 1953. All that is needed is a prepared room and to put on the glasses to immerse oneself in the Titanic, in the masses of the Colosseum, or in any experience programmed at the center. In the first, alongside passengers of the transatlantic liner, exploring their conversations and entertainments; in the second, following the steps of the gladiator Flamma, between walks through the market to the darkest parts of the Colosseum and the enslaved glory of the arena.
The journey of these historical episodes to reach the eyes of the spectator is neither quick nor simple. "With the Titanic, we spent two years on research, and ten months on production, with 30 programmers," explains Alirio Padeiro, general manager of Eclipso Barcelona. "All the experiences we program are ours, and they are very well-developed. They always prioritize reality: it's not a movie, it's cultural information," Padeiro asserts.
The case of the Titanic is paradigmatic: "The idea that remains is that of James Cameron's film, but it's a Hollywood movie; here we go to the reality of what happened." And it does so in a half-hour journey without resorting to dramatism and without dwelling on the sinking, but rather focusing on the exploration of its remains and on the moments of daily life experienced on the transatlantic liner. "Our goal is to offer a cultural activity, connecting available technology with our capacity to learn," remarks Padeiro from the center, which opened in September.
The fact that the productions are from Eclipso means they don't have a closing date: they can be extended as long as deemed appropriate, without taking away space to incorporate new proposals, such as that of Everest. "The intention is to keep adding experiences," which circulate through an international network of Eclipso centers, nearing a dozen spaces in cities like Paris, London, New York, Bordeaux, and Seville, while preparing for new openings also in Asia and Latin America.
A cultural hub of new technologies
Within this international circuit, "Barcelona could not be missed""Culturally, Barcelona is a European city that is hard to ignore. It seemed impossible not to be here," emphasizes Padeiro. Furthermore, Eclipso has not landed just anywhere in the city: it has done so in a dome of the Arenas that aspires to become a cultural hub linked to new technologies.Eclipso joins in this direction alongside the multi-sensory leisure space Ikono, and the immersive exhibition center Giga, which now invites visitors to travel to Antarctica through technology. "The goal is to create a powerful cultural pole," with complementary experiences.
Beyond the room
But Eclipso's plans in Barcelona do not stop at that cultural hub; they want to transcend it and take their experiences further. In addition to growing in the center by adding new experiences, they propose to develop a pop-up concept to take them to spaces such as companies, schools, or centers for the elderly.The versatility of technology allows it, although it is not as simple as putting on the glasses and pressing play: "We have to virtually draw the room where the experience will take place and calibrate it to the format of the space, and prepare the room." Then, yes: you just need to put on the glasses and let yourself be carried to moments of the past by the technology of the future.