On Monday, May 27, a presentation was held at the Faculty of Contemporary Arts showing a project on the digitization of cultural heritage by students from Lafayette College in Easton, USA. The event included lectures on the potential uses of VR technologies in art and the “revival” of cultural heritage. Participants included the VR laboratory of Lafayette College, the VR studio, and the gaming studio of the Faculty of Contemporary Arts. Following the lectures, an exhibition of works by students from the Faculty of Contemporary Arts was presented, exploring the possibilities of using VR and digital technologies in art. The exhibition also featured a presentation of VR models developed as part of the Lafayette College VR laboratory project.
During the project’s presentation and accompanying exhibition, the Belgrade audience had the opportunity to learn more about the Lafayette College VR laboratory project, which showed monuments from Ravenna, Italy, through digital technologies in a new light. The visit of Lafayette College professors and students to Serbia was initiated by the expansion of the project to digitize cultural heritage in Serbia, with plans to create VR models of Gračanica, Đurđevi stupovi, and Nerezi. These digital models will provide a new experience of cultural heritage, and in the case of Gračanica and Đurđevi stupovi, will mean the “return” of frescoes to their original locations, which were removed in 1946/47 and are currently housed in the National Museum in Belgrade. The virtual models will be available to the local public at the Faculty of Contemporary Arts, the National Museum in Belgrade, and the mentioned sites.
The presentation also covered other potential uses of digital and VR technologies in art, discussed by professors and students from both institutions. This was a unique event offered by the Faculty of Contemporary Arts to the Belgrade public, with further collaborative activities planned between the Faculty of Contemporary Arts and Lafayette College in the near future.
Faculty of Contemporary Arts
