In 1919 two small aircraft firms were set up in the UK and through many mergers became British Airways, which is now marking its centenary with a vision of flight in another century hence.
Forty postgraduate students from the Royal College of Art have been working on a project to imagine the future of flight in both digital and physical form.
Alongside the installations will be a one-of-a-kind, full motion, virtual reality experience charting the history of flying and looking forward to the future for visitors who purchase tickets in advance.
Named Fly, it is an interactive, full motion, multisensory experience that traces humankind’s relationship to flying. Built by award winning VR creators and an Oscar-winning practical effects team, Fly enables visitors to become a time-travelling pilot, from the earliest imaginings of Leonard da Vinci and his ornithopter, to the Wright Brothers’ success on Kitty Beach, to that first inaugural passenger flight to Paris. Users will experience Concorde, the brand new A350 and the imagined flight of future.
The exhibition will open throughout August, British Airways’ birthday month.
The installations and virtual reality experience will be on display at the Saatchi Gallery from August 1 to August 26, 2019. Entry to the exhibition is free but tickets for the virtual reality flights need to be booked in advance here.
There is a certain aptness that the BA exhibition is at the Saatchi Gallery, as it was the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi that created BA’s most famous TV advert – The Face.
