Even though I spend most of my time in the VR crease smashing balls in iB Cricket, I’m always excited to see what else the Meta Quest platform can do. Recently I checked out something truly special from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I had to share it with you.

For the past year, visitors to The Met’s Michael C. Rockefeller Wing have been captivated by 650 extraordinary artworks from across Oceania — covering New Guinea, the Pacific Islands, Australia, and island Southeast Asia.

To celebrate the first anniversary of these galleries, The Met has created an incredible virtual experience called “Oceania: A New Horizon of Space and Time” — now available on Meta Quest (and desktop).

What Makes This VR Exhibition Special

Instead of trying to cram hundreds of pieces into a virtual gallery, they’ve carefully chosen 15 standout artworks and placed them in a beautiful, lush virtual space that honours their indigenous origins, ceremony, and ancestral power.

The whole experience is designed to feel like spending a full, meaningful day with the artworks. It opens with a welcoming sunrise chant from Papua New Guinean cultural advisor Dr. Michael Mel and closes with a moving sunset poroporoaki (farewell) by Māori leader Che Wilson. It’s incredibly respectful and atmospheric.

Storytelling Through Immersive Fidelity

What really impressed me is the attention to detail. The Met’s imaging team 3D scanned the artworks with incredible precision so they look and feel authentic in VR. They also worked closely with contemporary artists, scholars, and cultural practitioners from across the Pacific to make sure the experience was created with deep cultural understanding.

As Brett Renfer, Senior Project Manager of Emerging Technology at The Met, puts it:

“This attempts to meaningfully break from the limitations of physical space and ‘museum rules.’ Visitors can see objects in a virtual version of their original context and can even ‘handle’ some of the artworks.”

That’s exactly what great VR should do — and why I love the Meta Quest platform so much. Whether you’re playing iB Cricket or exploring world culture, the sense of presence is unreal.

My Recommendation

If you own a Quest 3 or Quest 3S and you’re interested in history, culture, or just love high-quality immersive experiences, I highly recommend checking out Oceania: A New Horizon of Space and Time.

It’s available right now on the Meta Horizon Store and at metmuseum.org.

Even if your main focus is VR cricket like mine, experiences like this show just how powerful and versatile the Quest platform really is.

Have you tried any cultural or art VR exhibitions on your headset? Drop your thoughts in the comments below — I read every single one.

Until next time, keep swinging in the crease… and keep exploring what VR has to offer.