New publication in the OCIM newsletter

Often seen as a mediation tool, virtual reality is also establishing itself as a scientific instrument for studying, restoring, and transmitting heritage. Based on projects supported by the Research Federation Visual Sciences and Cultures, this article demonstrates how immersive environments enable researchers to test reconstruction hypotheses, document lost sites, restore ephemeral events or intangible heritage, open new perspectives for museums, research, and future metaverse applications.

This is an opportunity to discover (or rediscover) the following projects:

• InCity: Visual restoration of the Greek city of Apollonia in Illyria (present-day Albania)
• Recontext: Restoration of the Triclinium Tomb in Tarquinia (Italy)
• Insula: Restoration of Lille’s 15th-century market square
• DoMa: 3D reconstruction of the portal of Arthous Abbey in the Landes region
• WEL: Mr. Whistler’s Exhibition – Digital restoration of James McNeill Whistler’s 1874 London exhibition
• Expalon18: Digital restoration of two 18th-century exhibitions in Paris and London
• Le Camp du Drap d’Or: Digital restoration of the temporary infrastructures built for the 1520 meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I
• Get-In-Past: Digital restoration of 18th-century ballet dances
• Comet: Design and uses of metaverse environments as part of the PEPR ICCARE program

Special thanks to Yann Coello for writing the article, and to Pierre-Henry Bas, Isabelle Paresys, Élise Bailleul, Gaëtane Maës, Audrey Gouy, Nicolas Genis, Pauline Triplet, Mathieu Beaud, Isabelle Enaud, Ludivine Panzani, Guillaume Jablonka, and Julien Dumortier for their valuable contributions.