Title: Genius Loci: digital heritage augmentation for immersive performance

Authors: Christian Jacquemin; Véronique Caye; Livio De Luca; Aurélie Favre-Brun

Addresses: LIMSI-CNRS, University of Paris-Sud, BP 133, 91403 Orsay Cedex, France ' Laboratoire Victor Verite, 28 rue d'Avron, 75020 Paris, France ' UMR CNRS/MCC 694 MAP-Gamsau, ENS d'Architecture de Marseille, 184, Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France ' UMR CNRS/MCC 694 MAP-Gamsau, ENS d'Architecture de Marseille, 184, Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France

Abstract: Genius Loci is an art installation and a theater play based on audiovisual augmented reality combined with contemporary writings and religious texts. The scenography takes place in a disused church and begins with a dialog between a contemporary author in residence and the ghost of a Carthusian monk during which the graphical rendering of historical hypotheses is progressively revealed. In the second part, the silhouette of the monk emerges from contemporary visuals that combine fluid and animated graphical patterns anchored to the church geometry. After saying a psalm, the monk vanishes in an apocalyptic audiovisual crescendo. Both historical and contemporary visuals are animated spatial augmented reality installations based on 3D scans of the church enriched with historical furniture and ornamentation. This study shows how digitalised heritage can be used for situated performance, and offers insights on artistic and technological issues that can ensure a better immersion of the audience through enhanced believability and empathy with the performance.

Keywords: spatial augmented reality; SAR; heritage digitisation; multimedia performance; media facades; scenography; immersive performance; 3D scanning; performance augmentation; public space; digital heritage augmentation; art installation; theater plays; audiovisual; contemporary writings; religious texts; church geometry; situated performance; believability; empathy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJART.2014.060942

International Journal of Arts and Technology, 2014 Vol.7 No.2/3, pp.223 - 246

Received: 02 Apr 2012
Accepted: 27 Sep 2012
Published online: 21 Jun 2014 *

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