For over three years now, Noho has been a partner in V-Must, the Virtual Museums Transnational Network. V-Must is an FP-7 funded ‘Network of Excellence’ undertaken with researchers, designers, and university partners from all over Europe. Its mission is to develop and promote the role of technology in understanding the past. V-Must aims to encourage heritage professionals around the world to connect and collaborate around the development and use of virtual museums. Its vision for participation is a broad one, ranging from traditional museum curators to university faculty to specialists in social and cognitive sciences and in digital preservation. This year the project is focused on a flagship exhibition titled Keys to Rome, which will launch in four cities – Amsterdam, Rome, Sarajevo and Alexandria – in September 2014. The will use immersive technology to present and connect these regional cultures within the Roman empire, highlighting their diversity and commonality over centuries of Roman rule.

In addition to real-life objects in display cases, the exhibition will feature numerous 3D objects and virtual archaeological sites, digitally restored to their original state. Visitors will be able to explore these locations and examine objects via an immersive, gesture-based interface powered by Microsoft Kinect. They will also have the opportunity to move from one location to another, virtually, following an imaginative and engaging storyline based around tracing a character’s family tree.

Noho is leading the narrative design, scriptwriting and video production on the project. We are also collaborating on the 3D rendering of artefacts and sites with Visual Dimension, Ltd., (Belgium) and on interface and interaction design with Lund University (Sweden) and the Allard Pierson Museum (Amsterdam). Stay tuned for updates on this exciting project as the year progresses!