In the context of the growing pivotal role of digitalization for cultural institutions, the digital transition of the Museo Egizio di Torino is centered on the integration of heterogeneous information and data to implement the management, dissemination, and promotion of the Museum’s collection. This digital transition is intended not only as a mere acquisition of technological tools but rather as the construction of an integrated system that facilitates dialogue and connections between all museum activities, from daily management to research, from the design of installations to the generation of multiple possible narratives. Within this framework, the essay illustrates, through two empirical case studies, the opportunities of AR technologies to implement the knowledge and dissemination of tangible and intangible aspects of the millennial historical objects preserved in the Museum.
Re-contextualizing the standing Sekhmet statues in the Temple of Ptah at Karnak through digital reconstruction and VR experience
Recent trends in the Digital Humanities – conceived as new modalities of collaborative, transdisciplinary and computational research and presentation – also strongly influence research approaches and presentation practices in museums. Indeed, ongoing projects in museums have considerably expanded digital access to data and information, documentation and visualization of ancient ruins and objects. In addition, 3D modelling and eXtended Reality opened up new avenues of interacting with a wider public through digital reconstructions that allow both objects and sites to be presented through visual narratives based on multidisciplinary scholarly research. The article illustrates the use of 3D digital reconstruction and virtual reality to re-contextualise standing statues of Sekhmet in the Temple of Ptah at Karnak, where they were found in 1818. Today, they are on display at Museo Egizio, Turin. The theoretical framework of the research and the operational workflow – based on the study of the available archaeological, textual, and pictorial data – is presented here.