The essay focuses on the valorisation of pictorial works to be brought back into their original exhibition contexts, reflecting on the contribution of today’s digital technologies in enhancing their understanding and enjoyment. Starting from this assumption, the focus is on the principles of digital storytelling to be implemented in installations capable of maintaining a continuous dialogue between physical and digital space, through video projections interacting with reconstructions of 3D-printed architecture, obtained through careful perspective restitutions. In particular, there are three canvases depicting some of the most important events in the life of Saint Mark, painted by Gentile and Giovanni Bellini and by Giovanni Mansueti, respectively for Guardian Grande Marco Pellegrini and Jacopo Dardani. They were once kept in the Sala dell’Albergo of the Scuola Grande di San Marco in Venice, where their return is now hoped for. The multimedia installation planned for the Sala Capitolare is thus configured as an edutainment route that anticipates the rediscovery of the original works, to be contemplated only after understanding their specific meanings.
Virtual and Mixed Reality for the Enhancement of an Absence: The Case of the Artemis Statue
The paper investigates the use of virtual and mixed reality technologies to enhance the temporary absence of museum artifacts, proposing exhibition strategies based on digital twins, 3D animations, and immersive interaction. Through photogrammetric survey and 3D modeling, a digital replica of the Artemis statue is generated and used to develop interactive and narrative content, including video installations and holographic experiences via HoloLens. The approach aims to improve the understanding of the artifact’s historical transformations and restorations, allowing users to actively explore its reconstruction and formal evolution within a hybrid physical-digital museum environment.
Unquiet Postures. Augmented Reality in the Exhibition Spaces of Sculptural Bodies
This paper explores how augmented, mixed, and multimedia reality can transform the interpretation and exhibition of sculptural heritage in museum environments. Developed through a research project between Università Iuav di Venezia and the Regional Museum Directorate of Veneto, the study focuses on Greek and Roman statues preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Venice, many of which were altered by Renaissance restorations. Using digital photogrammetry and Structure from Motion workflows, the authors generated accurate digital twins of the sculptures, enabling the analysis of added limbs, reconstructed postures, and historical transformations. These models were then integrated into new exhibition scenarios including animated projections, responsive rotating pedestals, immersive storytelling rooms, and HoloLens mixed-reality holograms. The proposed installations enhance visitor engagement by revealing the hidden biographies of the statues, especially in cases of absence due to loans or restoration. The research demonstrates how interactive technologies can convert the museum into a hybrid learning environment where physical artifacts and digital replicas coexist to improve accessibility, participation, and historical understanding.
Illusory Scene and Immersive Space in Tintoretto’s Theatre
The perspective analysis of some canvases by Jacopo Robusti is the result of a research which involved, within the University of Padua, architecture and art historians with representation scholars, to share knowl-edges about one of the most important Venetian artists of the second half sixteenth century. The study, continued in collaboration with the Iuav University of Venice professors and students, focused on an exhi-bition proposal at the Sala Capitolare of the Scuola Grande di San Marco in Venice, where hopefully some of paintings will return to their original destination.The main objective concerns the creation of an experiential itinerary, organized by a sensitive narration that starts in the same act of its fruition, to allow the observer a critical interaction dependent on knowl-edge process of the works and their evoked spaces, without the aid of controllers or digital viewers.