Photo by Brianna Connock
Marking 40 years since the discovery of the Titanic’s wreckage, “Titanic: An Immersive Voyage—Through the Eyes of the Passengers” is taking us back in time to what it would have been like to be a passenger on the ill-fated ship. The exhibit will be in Cincinnati beginning March 13, and will honor the anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking on April 14.
After the tragedy occurred, the wreckage sat at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for 73 years until a U.S. Navy operation led by Robert Ballard discovered the remains on accident. The discovery captured the first images of the wreck including the grand staircase, rusting hull, and personal artifacts.
Now, “Titanic: An Immersive Voyage” gives visitors the chance to experience what life was like on the Titanic, including the doomed night. It brings these images to life with advanced theatrical techniques to recreate rooms of the ship in its prime and technical overlays that will transport guests back to 1912 on the Titanic.
“I have worked on Titanic exhibits for about 25 years. With all the technology that’s available now to us and all the interest in immersive storytelling that we’re seeing, I wanted to take the Titanic story and tell it in a way that uses all these,” says John Zaller, executive producer of the experience.
As visitors enter the exhibit, they are given a boarding pass of a passenger originally aboard in 1912, and they go through the experience as that passenger. The experience takes visitors through the storytelling of the industrial revolution, migration, and the building of the ship before getting to walk through the ship and experience life as a passenger.
The exhibit includes an immersive projection display of the Titanic’s sinking, following a virtual reality feature, in which visitors can “dive” down to the wreckage and see it up close. The experience ends with a memorial gallery in which visitors learn if their passenger was one that survived or that was lost to the wreck.
Before heading into a new city, Zaller and his team work to find local connections to the Titanic. “It’s always fascinating to come into a new market because we all have a story that kind of connects us to the Titanic, and each region does,” says Zaller.
Photo by Brianna Connock
For example, Albert Ankeny Stewart was an American with ties to the Barnum & Bailey Circus and Middleton & Strowbridge Lithographing Company, who last lived in Cincinnati. Stewart was exploring Europe when he heard about the Titanic and jumped on the opportunity to be a part of the voyage.
Stewart was unfortunately lost to the disaster after he made it a priority to help others onto lifeboats before himself, despite being a first class passenger. His hometown of Gallipolis, Ohio has a marker to commemorate his life and remember his heroism aboard the Titanic.
Today, the Titanic still sits at the bottom of the Atlantic about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. The remaining parts will never be retrieved due to a deep-sea bacteria that has rapidly deteriorated the ship, and the ocean pressure that would affect retrieval.
“We want to continue to preserve the memory and legacy of Titanic to honor those who were lost to it and to reflect on what the causes were of the disaster so we could not repeat those same mistakes,” says Zaller. “The Titanic makes us ask, ‘what would I have done had I been there? What role would I have played?’ And that’s a tough question for all of us to ask.”
“Titanic: An Immersive Voyage” opens to the public on March 13 and has no scheduled departure date.
“Titanic: An Immersive Voyage,” 18 W. Fourth St., downtown
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