Art to Go: Russia’s Digital Platforms Bring Heritage to the World
VR museums, NFT collections, and blockchain archives are redefining how Russian culture is shared with the world—exporting not only art, but also the infrastructure to experience it digitally.
A Museum Without Walls
The Virtual Russian Museum is no longer bound by a physical location. Through a dedicated website, users can take VR tours, attend online lectures, and explore multimedia archives. This digital platform provides global access to one of the richest collections of Russian art, reshaping the concept of cultural outreach.
A standout example is the museum’s expansion to Cuba. In November 2024, Havana’s National Museum of Fine Arts opened its second multimedia exhibition—“Fashion: From Avant-Garde to Socialist Realism.” The animated showcase presents a visual journey through the history of Russian fashion, using 2D and 3D animation to bring to life paintings, posters, and book illustrations from the 1930s.
Preservation as a Personal Mission
For the past 15 years, the 'Preserved Culture' project has been digitizing 20th-century Russian scientific and cultural achievements. Funded entirely by legal scholar Viktor Naumov, the initiative has engaged researchers from over a dozen Russian cities and neighboring countries.
The team has digitized more than 150 cultural artifacts and created over 300 multimedia products—from documentaries and 3D models to mobile apps and digital books. Many have received national and international acclaim, demonstrating how grassroots digitization efforts can amplify heritage preservation globally.
When Snowmen Meet NFTs
Russian artist Nikolay Kopeikin brought his surreal narrative of snowmen and coal-men into the digital realm through MetaBlizzard, a VR art project powered by blockchain. Originally exhibited at Russia’s top museums, the works now live as animated NFTs in a virtual gallery space.
The project features original music by Nikolay Gusev and immersive scenes directed by Andrey Gladkikh. Viewers enter Kopeikin’s metaverse through VR workshops, where they engage directly with the digital characters and learn the rules of his Big Game.
The MetaBlizzard NFT collection is now being positioned as one of the largest in the global digital art scene.
Augmented History and Digital Citizenship
With apps like 'Moscow: Sounds of History' recreating 19th-century urban life through audio AR, Russia is using tech to rewrite how the past is experienced. Online tours, AR reconstructions, and digital twins of monuments make it possible to interact with vanished or altered heritage in real time.
Projects like 'Truth Map' and 'Digital Patriot Charter' are fighting misinformation with open-source archives, while gamified tools like 'Detective of Lies' engage users in myth-busting quests.
Meanwhile, 'Ethnodialogue' offers cultural tours in 25 native languages, supporting digital inclusion and ethnic diversity. These frameworks can be replicated internationally to foster cultural exchange and preserve identity in the digital age.
