Presenter: Jason Porter, College of Information and Communications

Location: Room 412, Thomas Cooper Library

Game Description:

In an effort to preserve the crumbling ruins of eighteenth-century Rome, Piranesi tirelessly documents and invents, when necessary, the world around him. Follow in his footsteps to discover and decode the ancient architectural origins of the mysterious Pantheon and other immersive artifacts hidden in Piranesi’s Worlds.

General Overview:

Piranesi’s Worlds, recreates and re-interprets Giovanni Piranesi’s original immersive two-dimensional views through interactive virtual reality. Part multi-player videogame, part art history lesson, and part wearable museum, Piranesi’s Worlds elaborates and extends elements of Piranesi’s original engravings in ways that point to both the future and the history of immersive design.

Significance:

This is one of the first VR museums that does not simply a recreates an existing museum or works. Most VR museums experiences simply place various artworks in curated rooms and allow users to walk among them. Our experience differs in that it curates not only the work of an artist, but the immersive world of experiences possible in VR to showcase and engage users in a way only VR can. Specifically, Piranesi’s Worlds reimagines what an immersive museum experience can be through an innovative and immersive approach to historic site interpretation and art history.