Annabell Vacano

Annabell Vacano is the founder of Atopia, a platform for immersive art and culture that works with museums to create virtual exhibitions for the web and VR. Atopia collaborated with The Met on these features and on tools that enable institutions of different sizes to design and publish similar experiences themselves.

Annabell Vacano will be speaking at the Museum Digital Summit 2026 :

Designing Story-Driven Virtual Exhibitions

In 2025, The Met and Atopia launched Dendur Decoded and Oceania: A New Horizon of Space and Time – The Met’s first VR exhibitions built as story-driven virtual worlds, not just tours. Visitors step inside the Temple of Dendur or a Pacific-inspired landscape, exploring 3D-scanned works through movement, sound, games and interpretation on the web or in a headset.

This session looks past the technology to what the team learned: how to combine game-like mechanics with curatorial storytelling, design choices to keep audiences engaged, and patterns other museums can adapt for digital experiences.