Digital Laocoön unveiled
IMAGES: Digital Laocoönis a 3D rendering of one of the GSA’s plaster casts set in a Mackintosh Building studio. It is augmented with historic images, information and videos; Digital Laocoöncan be experienced life-size using a VR head set or using AR on a tablet or other portable devise.
· Digital Laocoön was initially planned to be used at the reopening of the Mackintosh Building. The aim is now to take it on the road
· The GSA and isodesign are beginning work on an interactive version for schools to encourage young people to engage more with their cultural heritage, which is aligned with the Scottish curriculum for excellence
· The project underlines Glasgow’s international reputation as a centre of creativity bringing together leading academics at the GSA and one of the UK’s leading digital studios, isodesign.
A ground-breaking immersive 3D exhibit focused on one of The Glasgow School of Art’s collection of plaster casts has been unveiled today (18 January 2019). It was created by the GSA’s School of Simulation and Visualistion (SimVis) in partnership with the leading Scottish digital media studio isodesign. The exhibit was developed with a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research council as a blueprint for how developments in VR/AR technology can be used to enhance visitor enjoyment and understanding of museum exhibits and attractions through a set of design guidelines.
Digital Laocoön, which took around nine months to develop, harnesses Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technology to tell the story of Laocoön, one of the GSA’s collection of plaster casts which was damaged in the fire of 2014 and is presumed lost following the fire of 2018.
TheVR / AR experience brings the viewer right into the heart of one of the Mackintosh Building studios, where they encounter a life-size rendering of the sculpture. Walking around the space the viewer’s experience is then augmented with historic images from the GSA’s Archives & Collections and specially made films, that tell the story of Laocoön and how industry-leading conservation techniques were developed using the GSA’s plaster casts following the 2014 fire.
“Digital Laocoön was developed as an exemplar of how state of the art digital technology can be used to enhance visitor experiences,”says Professor Steve Love, Senior Researcher, School of Simulation and Visualisation. “It shows how 3D technology can be used to give wider access to exhibits and how virtual interaction with museum exhibits can increase both enjoyment and learning.”
“It was due to be first used by the public at the reopening of the Mackintosh Building later this year, and has acquired a special poignancy following the fire last June in which the plaster cast of Laocoön was almost certainly lost.”
isodesign, a world-leader in interactive and immersive technology, has worked on projects including the Titanic Belfast Experience, First World War Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, National Museum of Scotland and the award-winning Gallery of Lost Art with the Tate, their first online only exhibition.
“We now have access to very powerful visualisation tools that can place audiences at the very centre of immersive experiences,”says Damien Smith, partner at isodesign said. “The techniques we used on this project – where we took high-resolution 3D scans, archive images, film and 3D sound – allowed us to tell a truly dramatic story of Laocoön and provides a template for how other cultural institutions can unlock their most precious assets, presenting them to visitors in new and dramatic ways.”
Next steps
Having developed this initial version of the exhibit the team is about to embark on the next stage of the project, which will see them explore how the VR version can be experienced by a wider audience and develop version for schools and higher education. The schools version will align with the Scottish curriculum for excellence.
“We are also looking at how the AR version can be further developed on smartphones and tablets making the experience more portable, and how the ‘personal’ experience of VR can be displayed in real time to a wider audience using virtual green screen techniques,” explains Prof Love.
“Byusing the gaming technology with which young people are so at home we hope to be able to engage them with more with their cultural heritage,”he adds.
Who was Laocoön?
Laocoön is a figure from classical mythology. He was a Trojan priest who, together with his two sons, was attacked and killed by giant serpents sent by the Gods. The Roman author, Virgil, gives Laocoön the celebrated words: “Do not trust the Horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts.”
A sculpture of the death of Laocoön and his sons, attributed to sculptors from ancient Rhodes, stands in the Vatican. The Laocoön featured in the 3D exhibit is a plaster cast of the sculpture in the Vatican. It is one of a collection of casts that was used in teaching at the GSA.
Ends
For further information, interviews and images contact:
Lesley Booth,
07799414474
press@gsa.ac.uk
@GSofAMedia
Notes for Editors
Digital Laocoönwas developed with support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as part of a strand showing how leading creative business and academics can come together to make the most of the next generation of digital content especially in the UK Creative Economy. More recently the AHRC invited the team to put in an application for support to develop the prototype looking at how AR can be used to make it accessible anywhere and to develop resources that align with Scotland’s curriculum for excellence.
The Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) was founded in 1845 as one of the first Government Schools of Design, as a centre of creativity promoting good design for the manufacturing industries of Glasgow. However, the School’s lineage can be traced to 1753 when Robert Foulis established a school of art and design in Glasgow, which was described as the single most influential factor in the development of eighteenth-century Scottish Art. Today, The GSA is internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading university-level institutions for the visual creative disciplines. Our studio-based approach to research and teaching brings disciplines together to explore problems in new ways to find innovative solutions. The studio creates the environment for inter-disciplinary working, peer learning, critical inquiry, experimentation and prototyping, helping to addressing many of the great challenges confronting society and contemporary business.
The School of Simulation and Visualisation (SimVis)
The School of Simulation and Visualisation (SimVis) currently specialises in postgraduate teaching and research. It has been a leader in research and development within the field of high-end 3D simulation and visualisation since 1997.Working with EU and UK Research Councils, Government departments and blue-chip companies, SimVis has created advanced visualisation products in various industries including the automotive, built environment, defence, shipbuilding and medical sectors. SimVis has a strong background in the medical visualisation sector, and has produced 3D digital models of selected anatomy to support activities such as pre-operative planning, risk reduction, surgical simulation and increased patient safety.
SimVis was a partner in the creation of the admired Scottish 10 and has delivered 3D models of the Forth Bridges. SimVis also created the award-winning 3D visualisations and soundscapes for the state of the art digital battle scenes as part of the transformation of visitor facility to mark the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn in 2014 and contributed to the recently opened Tennent’s visitor centre.
ISO Design
ISO is one of the UKs leading digital media and software studios, They create large-scale interactive and immersive media projects from their base in Glasgow’s Merchant City for clients across the UK and internationally. Specialising in design-led cultural projects for Museums, Galleries and Brand Experience Centre they also create motion graphics and animated content for television and create ambitious online digital projects that are experienced across web, social and mobile. Projects include the original interface design of the BBC iPlayer, the media installations for the Titanic Experience Belfast and design of the Tate’s multi-award winning ‘Gallery of Lost Art’. They are presently working on National Museums in Kuwait and Oman, the V&A China, Imperial War Museum London and closer to home the V&A Dundee and the Willow Rooms in Glasgow.
AHRC Research and Partnership Development for the Next Generation of Immersive Experiences
In November 2016, the AHRC and the creative, digital and design KTN successfully co-hosted three workshops. These were able to bring together the cultural and creative industries together with researchers, academics, businesses, institutions and trade associations. The aim of the workshops was to test the appetite for a challenge-led research programme for the creative economy, whilst generating ideas on challenges, and formulate a set of principles and design questions which would inform the development of the initiative/programme itself.
Immersive and interactive technologies were highlighted as a key challenge area in both our workshops and the ISCF engagement workshops. The AHRC are therefore launching this call on Immersive experiences in partnership with EPSRC. Both AHRC and EPRSC will be co-funding this call but we will also be exploring opportunities throughout the lifetime of this call to link up with ESRC and Innovate UK, and other UKRI funders.
Both the AHRC and EPSRC research communities are key to providing the research function for the UK’s Creative Industries. As such the AHRC working closely with the EPSRC and the RCUK Digital Economy Theme, is launching this call to develop a research programme to bring together organisations within the creative economy with researchers from both the arts and humanities communities and beyond to ensure that:
the UK’s world leading Creative Industries and research sectors are in a position to understand, experiment with, and exploit immersive technologies to create new experiences;
the next generation of digital content and services can be conceptualised, produced and exploited within the UK Creative Economy.
This is not a technology-only research programme, nor one exploring interfaces but a programme to explore the new technology-enabled, multi-sensory, narrative, interpretative, and performance experiences that will drive future creative and commercial value. This will require interdisciplinary working between the Arts and Humanities and other disciplines from Psychology to Engineering, and inter-sector working between researchers, creative practitioners, and businesses.