“Meta Experience”, in the Palermo space between art and the parallel dimension

(Adnkronos) – The future has arrived. As we speak, you have already crossed the boundaries of reality, in that much talked about “metaverse” even if it is still unknown to most people. In the Royal Palace of Palermo, the future is now tangible to promote and revive art and history thanks to μετα [Palazzo Reale > Meta Experience], a new experiential space that depicts the visitor in a parallel dimension, where technology and innovation remain at the service of art entirely for a more in-depth use and protection of artistic and cultural heritage over time. This is another design step in the cultural management of the Palazzo Reale by the Federico II Foundation that in the past five years has completely revolutionized the visitor experience by opening new spaces to the public, creating unpublished exhibitions with leading artists of the world stage and a new library with an international flavor.

Thanks to “μετα” it is possible to communicate masterpieces of art endlessly, immune to time, climate change, wars, earthquakes, floods, making them usable wherever man can settle in the future. memory protected. Once there are manual drawings, then the first photos and a smartphone: all the means to fix the image of the artwork in memory. Today, a new system relies on technology and innovation to make masterpieces invincible. By introducing the “μετα” dimension, visitors to the “Archaeological Complex of the Royal Palace and the Palatine Chapel” can directly realize how innovation applied to cultural heritage is not an abstract and foreign concept but is practical and in this case allows to enter into a symbiosis with works of art as never before .

The visitor witnesses the process of dematerialization and materialization of great masterpieces in front of the original, discovering how the identity of the work is created (with a view of the point cloud), and will immerse themselves in the “room of infinity”. Environmentally sustainable materials.Two exceptional examples await the visitor: Giovannito de Mozia in a “dress” pop, ecologically sustainable, majestic, which presents the unusual reproduction of the dancing satyr of Mazara del Vallo, suspended as if in flight. It will be noticeable to the smallest detail, and a discovery for those who have never seen it alive, a rediscovery for those who remember it and an incentive to visit the original.As a prelude, an important witness: the original marble portrait of Octavian Augustus, the most faithful portrait of the first emperor found in Sicily, who, 83 years after discovery, returned to Centuribe after he He remained for a long time at the Paulo Bears Museum in Syracuse.The work was exceptionally loaned by the Regional Museum in Centuripe (Archaeological and Landscape Park of Catania and the Aci Valley), thanks to a partnership with the Department of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian identity.

It will only be the first of a long line of artworks to come from museums throughout Sicily and from private and public collections, alternating as “hosts” in the μετα experiment. Indeed, from time to time the cooperation will be expanded to include museum institutions, art galleries and even local and national collectors, who will want to display works in the μετα space of the Palazzo Reale, where nearly one million visitors pass each year..

The project, jointly funded by Invitalia and the Ministry of Culture in the context of Cultura Crea, was born from the partnership between the Federico II Foundation and Forma Rei onlus to develop technological innovation in the cultural field. Forma Rei is a young association born with the aim of disseminating and promoting the value of digitization of cultural heritage, which is based on the experience of technological innovation for the startup Artficial that has digitized more than two thousand works of art in recent years, creating a real reality. Spotify International Sculpture. The idea is very simple: to apply the same process of digitizing cultural heritage to visitors to make them understand its value and future implications. Easy, intuitive and instant.

“Reproducing the works faithfully – will give visitors an opportunity to promote the enormous Sicilian and therefore Italian cultural heritage,” says Patricia Monterosso, Director General of the Foundation. Through technology, it is possible to understand how important digital memory and memory of identity are to works of art in guarding and protection, but above all to drive tourists More and more inside museums.” All this stems from a project co-financed by Invitalia and the Ministry of Culture in the field of culture creates and under the auspices of Pon: a tool, adds Monterosso, “in the service of art and not outside the enjoyment of authentic works”. In an age marked by epidemics, wars, and economic uncertainty, the future seems far from rosy, and in contemporary society we risk losing sight of the importance of the cultural sphere. In this context μετα [Palazzo Reale > Meta Experience] It intends to create values ​​for the future by arousing individual and community interest in and understanding of art, as well as a civic awareness of protecting artistic memory.

The experience is enriched with an absolute novelty, “Quickscan”: a user of μετα Space is scanned in six seconds and will immediately receive his or her digital identity. He can then decide whether to use it: the avatar to gain access to the Metaverse or whether to give it to his grandchildren to keep the memory of his face alive as a young man, or whether to make his bust out of an environmentally sustainable material. After all, some argue that every human being, as unique, is a work of art. Information on www.formarei.org. Ernesto Soma, Director of Incentives and Innovation at Invitalia explains: “Through the Cultura Crea programme, Invitalia has supported the realization of a project that offers the visitor an innovative experience, by digitizing and re-incarnating cultural assets through environmentally sustainable materials. This way of using cultural heritage makes it possible to reach new targets that may be of interest. The expansion of the goals of the fruits of cultural heritage is particularly consistent with the goals of the scale and PON Culture & Development 2014-2020, which are centered on the concept of public development. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the demand for culture in a twofold direction: in terms of expanding tourist flows but also in terms of identifying those who live in a territory and beginning to fit its history, culture and identity through the use of culture. legacy”.