The City Art Centre is running an interesting exhibition called An Edinburgh Alphabet that brings together items from all of the city's museums.  There's a programme of talks and so forth associated with it and I've been to a couple.

This week I gathered with others around a display case of glassware and learnt something of the history of glassmaking in Edinburgh. It's pretty much all gone leaving a few traces such as the relief panels on a Holyrood hotel rescued from the glassworks that stood on that site and showing glass makers at work.  There is also the intriguing thought that the converted church that is the Glasshouse Hotel is named for the association of Greenside with the industry, not that I can find any proof.

Hotfoot from history I went to what may be the future.  Whist is a virtual reality show.  Three punters pitched up for the 1pm show in one of the Festival Theatre's bars in which a number of oddly shaped objects stood.  We were invited to familiarise ourselves with the space then equipped with big chunky VR headsets and headphones and let loose to wander focussing on what were called trigger points on the objects.

When you hit a trigger point a scene then appeared in front of you, or all around you actually.  That's rather the point.  It was pretty realistic.  I did feel I was in the space in which the action was taking place although since the action in each case was on the surreal side you could hardly call it reality.

It reminded me a bit of putting on red and green plastic glasses at 3D films years ago where the action of the film was subordinate to the technology.  3D films have never really caught on and 3D TV died a death.  I think the same could be true of VR unless the material presented is a good deal more worth watching than Whist was.

There's been a series on Radio 4 recently exploring the meaning of some of the terms you see in the list of credits at the end of a film. Terms such as Best Boy and Key Grip.  Whist's credits had Amazing Development Guy in their list.  Quite an accolade.

Before moving from VR to plain old R let me tell you that at the end of the experience, before the credits roll a number is displayed which is said to have been calculated in response to what bits of the various scenes your eyes were drawn to which when looked up on their website will reveal your personality.

Now just as fortune telling weighing machines deliver a wee card that tells you what a splendid chap or chapess you are I didn't expect to be classed as in any way nasty however much my eyes may have concentrated on the more dubious aspects of the VR vignettes.

But it turns out that I am altogether splendid.  So for the enlightenment of my readers and perhaps the puzzlement of those who know me I quote the assessment in full: -


The elements that captured your attention during your VR journey may point to your sensitivity, curiosity and openness to the world around you, which can captivate you without demanding answers. You can be capable of appreciating beauty and contemplating unknowingness and staying open to experience without the need for an immediate closure.

The elements that captured your attention during your VR may suggest that you are sensitive to the suffering of others. Your empathy and compassion make you notice things which often pass unnoticed – in yourself and others. Under certain circumstances, other people’s suffering may matter more to you than your own joy.