Cloud over Sidra is the United Nations' first ever virtual reality film. It follows a twelve-year-old girl – named Sidra – who lives in the Za’atari camp in Jordan, and is designed to support a UN campaign highlighting the vulnerable state that is refugee life.

The tech used to make 3D models or VR programmes is designed for experts rather than rookies, often needing formal training to navigate. One team of designers aims to “lower the barriers to 3D literacy” by developing an easy-to-use app available for anyone to download.

If you don’t live in a cultural capital, nor tend to hop on a plane to visit one on your travels, viewing a Picasso seems rather unrealistic. But Google’s Cultural Institute aims to change that with its virtual reality viewer, allowing users to zoom into a van Gogh from anywhere.

2015 will see an avalanche of virtual reality devices appear in the mass market, with the likes of Sony, Google, Facebook and Microsoft targeting gamers across the globe. The technology may now be an attainable reality, but will it be used for anything beyond video games?