Hero Zone: Where Social VR Meets Real-World Revenue -
Hero Zone: Where Social VR Meets Real-World Revenue -
A Statue for Liberty is a free-roam museum VR experience by GEDEON Experiences, BackLight, the Musée d’Orsay and VIVE Arts that follows Auguste Bartholdi from Versailles in 1865 to New York in 1886. Eight zones of ten visitors, 35 minutes in the headset, four languages, at the Musée d’Orsay until 31 January 2027 and in New York until March 2027.
A Statue for Liberty, Bartholdi’s Dream, from Paris to New York is a free-roam virtual reality experience produced by GEDEON Experiences and co-produced by BackLight, the Musée d’Orsay and VIVE Arts, with the participation of the Musée Bartholdi in Colmar. Stéphane Landowski wrote the script and co-directed it with Jonathan Astruc. The Musée d’Orsay presents it alongside its exhibition Auguste Bartholdi, Liberty Enlightening the World.
Visitors wear VR headsets and follow Auguste Bartholdi from Versailles in 1865, where Édouard Laboulaye gives him the idea of a monument to Franco-American friendship, to the Gaget, Gauthier & Cie foundry in Paris ten years later, and to New York Bay in 1886, where the statue is inaugurated. Along the way they meet the people who made the project possible, among them Gustave Eiffel, Joseph Pulitzer, the foundry workers and the donors on both sides of the Atlantic. GEDEON and its partner Aristeas recreated the foundry, which no longer exists and where almost six hundred craftsmen and workers built the copper statue, from historical research, and painted the sets in Quill, a VR painting program.
The experience runs in eight zones of up to ten visitors each, with about 80 people in headsets at a time and about 160 passing through each hour, on HTC VIVE Focus Vision headsets. A visit lasts about 50 minutes: a pre-show, 35 minutes in the headset across ten chapters, and a post-show. It is available in English, French, Spanish and Chinese. The museum recommends it from age 13 and admits visitors from age 8, and advises against it for pregnant women and for people with heart conditions, epilepsy, migraines, or balance or vision disorders.
It opened on 15 September 2026 in the Amont Gallery of the Musée d’Orsay, across almost 700 square metres, and runs there until 31 January 2027 on timed tickets that include the museum’s collections and exhibitions. In New York, the Museum of Jewish Heritage presents it as A Statue for Liberty: Inventing an Icon from 25 October 2026 to 19 March 2027, marking the 250th anniversary of American independence and the 140th anniversary of the statue.
| Graphics | Standalone |
|---|---|
| VR/AR Headset | VIVE Focus |
| Solution Type | Turnkey |
| Experience Type | Storytelling, Art/Museum, Education |
| Size | Over 200 sqm |
| Duration | 35 minutes in the headset, 50 minute visit |
| Multiplayer | Up to 10 per zone, 8 zones, about 80 at a time |
| Chapters | 10 |
| Languages | English, French, Spanish, Chinese |
| Age | Recommended 13 and up, minimum 8 |
| Premiere | Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 15 September 2026 to 31 January 2027 |
| Venues | Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, 25 October 2026 to 19 March 2027 |
