For the International Year of Sound 2020-2021, the Institute of Cultural Heritage Sciences of the National Research Council (ISPC-CNR), directed by Costanza Miliani, has organized the webinar “SONIC HERITAGE: Sound and Multisensory Interactions in Immersive Virtual Reality and Cultural Heritage”. The experience, curated by Angela Bellia and Eva Pietroni, will take place on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 March on the institute’s platform.
In the wide-ranging program of meetings, RUFA coordinator and lecturer of the Master in Multimedia Arts and Design Caterina Tomeo will also hold a session on March 4 at 10.30 am entitled “From sound installations to video games: the sound device influences the perception of the world we live in”. Caterina Tomeo’s educational contribution will range from studies on electromagnetic anthropology and the electric works of Christina Kubish to the video games of Agathe Siffer. The objective is to carry out part of the research conducted for the publication of the book “L’elettronica è donna” (Castelvecchi 2021): a composite and transversal work rich in contributions from well-known international artists and researchers who highlight how some female sound artists have focused on sounds and noises of the urban, domestic, playful environment, observing how they strongly influence behavior from the point of view of perceptual and multisensory experience.
The project “SONIC HERITAGE” is a global initiative referred to the “Charter of Sound” UNESCO No. 39C/59, which aims to highlight the importance of sound in all aspects of life and the natural environment, as well as the need for noise control, both in the urbanized environment, and in the workplace, training, hospitality and care, also encouraging the understanding of scientific developments and technological application regarding both the physical aspects of sound, and those of its perception.
The webinar aims to explore how the development of interactive tools, aimed at involving visitors as “soundwalkers” of virtual reconstructions of archaeological sites or places of historical, cultural and architectural interest and their “historical soundscape”, can open new research perspectives not only on “Immersive Virtual Reality” applications, but also on the relationship between sound and multisensory interaction in a virtual environment. Over the last few years, through the so-called “Immersive Virtual Reality”, it has been possible to experiment new opportunities of multisensory design that combines modeling tools and techniques and “Virtual Reality Experience” in the acoustic field with the full involvement of the visitor’s perceptual apparatus.
