The MareXperience exhibition event was held in Procida on February 22 and 23, 2019, inside an ancient cave for the shelter of fishermen’s boats, 45 meters long and 8 meters wide. Inside, synchro-nized video projections and soundscapes were produced to create an immersive virtual environ-ment, whose contents were inspired by the signs and fluidity of underwater life. The digital forms were generated by a Swarm Intelligence algorithm, a tool generally used to create complex kinematic structures defined by a large number of parameters. Generative design is an expressive form aimed at artistic languages and representation of dynamic contexts, which here have been integrated into a narrative process, connecting aspects of the recording of the movement of bodies in water with the principles of data visualization.
The Emotion Detection Tools in the Museum Education EmoDeM Project
Facial recognition technologies, already used nowadays in many applications, i.e. to support security systems in sensitive buildings, could in a short time achieve widespread use also in others sectors including culture institutions like museums or art galleries. The state of the art in the field of facial recognition allows discriminating factors not only related to the essential somatic characteristics of a person to recognize, with an ever–greater degree of precision, the emotional reactions that may occur on person’s face.The article intends to describe the research’s EmoDeM experimentation in the museum environment in order to provide a tool capable of interpreting the reaction of a user in front of an artwork and propose a responsive information content coherent what is manifested through facial expressions.
Medma Touch, Feel, Think: Survey, Catalog and Sensory Limitations
The project is named ‘Medma Touch, Feel, Think – Technological retrofit of the Archaeological Museum of Medma–Rosarno for the 3D catalog of the exibits works on display and the possible use by subjects with sensory limits’. We have carried out the 3D survey of all the main finds with analytical photo–modeling techniques, their scientific cataloging on ICCD’s specifications, the creation of a website with a high interactivity content and an Application that allows the sharing of extended informations for blind people, through the combined use of analog 3D models and AR authoring software.A sustainable initiative, a driver for the technology transfer of innovation (often invoked, but rarely implemented), capable of generating ‘social empowerment’. The methodology can also be shared by small entities, but characterized by contents of high historical and cultural values, expecially if they are able to build–up a territorial network of high identitarian values.
Understanding to Enhance, Between the Technical and Humanist Approaches
The topics brought to attention by the Symposium provide the opportunity to reflect on research experiences in the last fifteen years where the potential of digital technology, and augmented reality in particular, has been tested to enhance the cultural heritage. It is an opportunity to verify – beyond not only the apparent kaleidoscope of the latest technological “novelty or wonder”, applications, and goals, but also changing groups of scholars or case studies – the presence or lack of a driving motive with regard to both the general goals and the specific discipline of Disegno, thereby validating, again at a distance of several years, the different experiences.
The Rock Church of San Micidiario of the Pantalica Site and 3DLAB VR/AR–Project
This work gives the first results of a research project funded by the Sicily region, aimed at the creation of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) models, in the context of some country of the terri-tory of Sicily with UNESCO listed monuments. This project sees the collaboration between some universities on the island and some partners who produce software and automated robotics systems and AI. Below are the first results of the workflow produced for the creation of 3D models of one of the three rock churches of the necropolis of Pantalica: an Unesco site. It also describes the pro-cess underway to get to the creation of VR and AR models to be used with three different levels of immersive reality: normal commercial viewers, different types of Oculus viewers, or in special virtual rooms Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE), already existing or created within the project.
Augmented Reality and Museum Exhibition. The Case of the Tribuna of Palazzo Grimani in Venice
The purpose of this research was the exploration of the potential of the combined use of augmented reality and rapid propotyping for the enhancement of Cultural Property. This specific study explored how these innovative methodologies can be effective in the creation of museum exhibitions which are not only able to show the contents of the exhibition itself in an original and captivating way, but also to recover the memory of a place by reconstructing the original position of the surroundings strictly connected to the sculptures they have been deprived of over the centuries.It is the case of the Tribuna of Palazzo Grimani in Venice and of the statues that used to adorn its walls. The majority of these statues are now preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Venice in an attempt to reconstruct their original appearance and disposition, and to offer the public a wholesome vision through augmented reality.
Wood Inlays and AR: Considerations Regarding Perspective
The contribution reflects on the options provided by recent Augmented Reality (AR) applications to the knowledge and enhancement of a nationally and internationally renowned cultural asset: perspec-tive wood inlays.The methodology envisages two closely–connected stages initially involving perspective decoding and ensuing reconstruction of the illusory model, followed by the creation of a set–up for the AR pursuant to the digitalization of the three–dimensional model.In AR, perspective is the ideal tool to virtually experience the space represented in the decoration; at the same time it provides the most suitable solutions required to optimise the AR project.
New Cultural Interfaces on the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice
In the digital age, museums have seen a significant expansion of the spaces and tools for disseminat-ing knowledge. Gallerie dell’Accademia had commissioned a permanent and multimedia video that summarized the results of the interdisciplinary research developed within Visualizing Venice – S. Maria della Carità, S. Agnese, and the Gesuati, three insulae make one – that told about the history of the urban and architectural transformations of the insula. Since it is not a totally immersive installation, some years later Gallerie asked to make some changes to the previous animation to allow a greater interactivity between user and observed data. In order to keep the visitor’s attention threshold high and active, different sections of short duration have been introduced, which can be interrogated and activated by sensors, while a Sound Shower system facilitates the understanding of the multimedia story through the listening of a narrator’s voice.
An Immersive Room Between Scylla and Charybdis
Nello Scill’e Cariddi is an immersive and interactive room, in which the marine environment of the Strait of Messina was employed as first experimental scenarios to develop and test the technology. The scenarios reconstruct different settings relating to this unique ecosystem and represent the outcome of a long process of research and systematization of audio visuals available at the Horcynus Orca Foundation. The room, therefore, transforms collections of films, integrating them with the production of specific images, into virtual environments containing structured catalogues and into interactive installations for educational, playful, scientific, and popular use.
Marche in Tavola. Augmented Board Game for Enogastronomic Promotion
This paper aims to illustrate the first experiments deriving from a research project which intends to verify the potential of augmented reality technologies in the field of the valorization of food and wine heritage. In particular, a playful interactive editorial product was prototyped. It was made up of table board and picture cards to be consulted through an augmented reality application based on a web platform. The augmented contents were developed with the intention of showing a possible food pyramid built on the knowledge of the qualities of the typical foods of the Marche region.