Junction Arts Festival's virtual reality work takes viewers to derelict mansion

Maybe it's when you are approached to be the subject of a virtual reality experience, with audiences popping on a pair of goggles for the purposes of being transported to a world of your art.

That's the case for Tyrone Wright, whose artist moniker is Rone.

Empire, by Lester Francois, takes viewers into a work Rone completed in Victoria, where he took over an entire Art Deco mansion with renderings of beauty and decay.

The mansion was typical of the works he is most known for: murals of women's faces on derelict buildings.

On Saturday and Sunday for Junction Arts Festival, when the public goes to 68-70 St John Street and puts on a headset, they will be able to take a virtual tour of the mansion.

"You can walk through it almost like a video game," he said.

"With the VR, you get a real sense of the scale. You can step into the spaces in 3D, and there are also three documentaries about works that I've done that you can step into, and get the full 360-degree view."

Rone said he spent over a year on the original project.

With virtual reality, it will last forever.

"Coming from a street art background where everything gets destroyed, it's really exciting for me," he said.

"Because all I'm ever left with is a photo of my work, so this is a new way to document it."

As well as the Virtual Reality project, he will be giving an artist talk at the Rory Spence Lecture Theatre, University of Tasmania School of Architecture and Design, Inveresk Campus, at 3pm.

WHAT: Empire, a 20-minute virtual reality experience on Rone.

WHERE: 68-70 St John Street.

WHEN: 11am to 2pm on Saturday and Sunday, and 5.30pm to 9pm on Saturday.

COST: Free.