Smithsonian American Art Museum – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

July 24, 2018

Smithsonian American Art Museum Exhibition Comes to VR

Virtual reality (VR) is beginning to become a popular way for museums and art galleries to bring its exhibits to people who might not otherwise get the opportunity to visit and enjoy the exhibition in person. The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) now joins the likes of the Salvador Dali Museum and The British Museum in offering a VR exhibition, with its new offering, ‘No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man’.

The SAAM exhibition is being made available to users of the VR social platform Sansar, and is being powered by Intel technology as part of a recently announced partnership.

SAAM say that the partnership will help it achieve the goal of the Smithsonian, to expand the reach of the Institution’s collections to a billion people in five years. This will involve making the museum’s objects and collections available to the public in a variety of ways, including immersive mediums such as VR.

“Intel empowers the creator to take their work to the next level. Technology has the potential to achieve new goals and ambitions for museums and galleries. Immersive technologies, like virtual reality, unlock new and exciting ways to experience art and exhibits. Fans can now check out “No Spectators” from their own home. Without Intel’s high-performance processors, these experiences would not be possible.” said Raj Puran, director of immersive technology business development at Intel Corporation.

The first release of this partnership features the large-scale artworks assembled for the exhibition titled ‘No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man’ which is on display for a limited time at the SAAM Renwick Gallery. The exhibition is designed to capture the spirit of creativity and community associated with Burning Man.

Intel provided the technology that allowed for the exhibition to be captured using laser scanning and photogrammetry, before making the VR images available through the Sansar social VR platform. Further information on No Spectators along with the full VR experience can be found on the Sansar website.

As always, VRFocus will continue to bring you the latest on new and upcoming VR content and events.

May 9, 2018

Intel: The Art of Burning Man – VR-Kunst im Smithsonian American Art Museum

Eine neue Partnerschaft zwischen Intel und dem Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D. C. ermöglicht eine Digitalisierung der mehr als 157 Millionen Kunstwerke innerhalb des amerikanischen Kunstmuseums. Das erste VR-Projekt ermöglicht einen digitalen Besuch der vorgeführten Kunstwerke des alljährlich stattfindenden weltberühmten Festivals Burning Man.

Intel & Smithsonian American Art Museum – Virtuelle Kunstaustellung des Burning Man

Dank einer neuen Kooperation zwischen Intel und dem Smithsonian American Art Museum ist es in Zukunft möglich, die beeindruckenden Kunstausstellungen des amerikanischen Museums auch international in virtueller und immersiver Form zu erleben. Dank eines aufwendigen 3D-Scannings der Galerien und Kollektionen sollen diese nach und nach in digitalisierte Form umgewandelt und mit interaktiven Elementen ausgeschmückt werden.

Das erste VR-Projekt thematisiert die Kunstwerke des Burning-Man-Festivals im Bundesstaat Nevada in der Black Rock Desert. Das achttägige Festival ist neben intensiver Selbstdarstellung der Besucher eine gigantische kreative Kunstausstellung und endet traditionell im Verbrennen einer riesigen menschenähnlichen Statue.

Im Smithsonian American Art Museum findet im Rahmen der Ausstellung No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man ein virtueller Rundgang mit einer VR-Brille in der Android Jones Deep Palya Experience statt. Diese bringt Besucher in die abgelegene Wüstenanlage, die als Veranstaltungsort für das Festival dient, um die ausgestellten Skulpturen und Kunstwerke der Festivalbesucher zu begutachten und den kreativen losgelösten Geist des Festivals nachzuempfinden.

Smithsonian-American-Art-Museum-Intel-Burning-Man-VR

Neben der Bereitstellung der Kunstwerke bietet die Digitalisierung der geschichtsträchtigen Ausstellungsstücke einen weiteren Vorteil: Die Umwandlung in 3D-Objekte sorgt für einen zeitlosen Erhalt der Museumsstücke, ohne diese zu beschädigen. Dies ermöglicht auch zukünftigen Generationen lehrreiche Besuche und das Nacherleben von Geschichte.

John Bonini, Vizepräsident und General Manager der Bereiche VR, Gaming & eSports bei Intel sieht den positiven Nutzen der Zusammenarbeit:

“Virtual Reality bietet innovative computergenerierte Erfahrungen, und ermöglicht völlig neue Optionen seine Umwelt zu erforschen und mit dieser zu interagieren. Zeitgleich mit der Weiterentwicklung der Technologie werden zukünftig auch immersive Museen zur Norm werden. Die Zusammenkunft der Leidenschaft für Lehre des Smithsonian American Art Museum und der innovativen Technologien von Intel ermöglicht uns als einen ersten Schritt, eine Brücke zwischen der realen physischen und der digitalen Welt zu schlagen und die amerikanische Kunst auch in internationalen Klassenräumen zugänglich zu machen.”

Die Ausstellung No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man findet bis zum 21. Januar 2019 im Kunstmuseum statt. Wann die öffentlich zugängliche VR-Erfahrung des Museums erscheint, wurde derzeit noch nicht veröffentlicht.

(Quellen: Intel | Video: Intel Newsroom Youtube)

Der Beitrag Intel: The Art of Burning Man – VR-Kunst im Smithsonian American Art Museum zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

May 7, 2018

Intel and The Smithsonian American Art Museum Partner On Immersive VR Experience

Intel and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) have announced a new immersive virtual reality (VR) experience that will allow users to dive into some of the country’s most treasured art and history. The aim of the project is to transform the future of education and the museum experience by digitizing and providing a detailed 3D recreation of collections, giving access like never before.

Intel and the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Though the Smithsonian’s museums see over 30 million people through the doors each year, hundreds of millions of people will never be able to visit in person. The new VR experience creates the opportunity for those who may not be able to visit in person to see the collections up close, within virtual space. The partnership between Intel and SAAM will bring a new chances for education and researchers to get up close and personal with the Renwick Gallery’s current exhibition, “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man.”

John Bonini, vice president and general manager, VR, Gaming & Esports at Intel Corporation commented on the news saying: “Virtual reality will bring about cutting-edge computing experiences and accelerate new possibilities for how people will explore and interact with the world around them. As the technology evolves, immersive museum experiences will become the norm. Bridging physical and digital worlds to study American art in classrooms around the globe is just a first step in exploring what is possible when we combine the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s passion for education with Intel’s innovation.”

Intel and the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Intel’s advanced technologies will allow for SAAM to accelerate their existing process of 3D digital capture and increase access to its collections with the help of the powerful 8th Generation Intel Core processors, cloud-based platforms and much more. The goal is to encourage 24/7 access to the museum, affording educators and other museums and public audiences the opportunities to become more immersed in some of America’s most treasured collections, in full immersion.

As the SAAM continue bring more of their collections into virtual space, Intel will be working with them to further expand the VR experience. You can see the experience in motion in the below video that Intel released, and VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the partnership of Intel and the SAAM.

January 27, 2017

Step Inside a VR Recreation of the Smithsonian American Art Museum by Framestore and Intel

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is world renown for having some of the most iconic pieces of art and sculpture anywhere. Not everyone can travel to the US to view the exhibits so Intel has collaborated with Framestore, VALIS Studios, 8i and xRez Studio to recreate the second floor east wing of the museum in virtual reality (VR).

To create the experience an Intel-powered LIDAR scan provided the ground work, which was then combined with photogrammetry provided by 3D specialist Greg Downing (xRez Studio) to build a high level of detail. VALIS Studios’ lead creative director and producer Peter Martin put the team together, with 8i providing the volumetric capture and Framestore provided the Unity build.

Framestore - Smithsonian Museum image 2

Built for room scale VR, the experience allows users to explore the museum using teleportation, where they’ll find three pieces that can be examined far more closely. First is the Adams Memorial, a famous bronze sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. As users draw in close a text overlay appears which details the story of ‘Clover’ Adams, wife of writer Henry Adams, who committed suicide in 1885 by drinking chemicals used to develop photographs. Her grieving husband commissioned the sculptor to create a memorial.

The next takes viewers to Aurora Borealis, the original oil painting created in 1863 by artist Frederic Edwin Church. Approaching the painting reveals the option to teleport into the art piece. It’ll take them to Iceland, where a 360-degree video at 6K resolution of the aurora borealis, provided by designer and photographer Olafur Haraldsson is viewable.

The last piece to explore takes place in a virtual theatre where the 2013 three-channel video installation, Face in the Crowd, plays on three walls. As viewers turn around, they’re are faced with a scan of the artist herself, Alex Prager, who tells them the inspiration for the work.

For all the latest VR news from around the world, keep reading VRFocus.