Art online: MAI technology allows to visit museums during the pandemic

The experts of the "Pilot stands and the "aeroplane-pilot" system” research laboratory of Moscow Aviation Institute, together with the 3D modeling studio Protomodel, the NT-Consulting company and the Creative Union of Artists of Russia (TSHR) have developed unique project at the intersection of art and technology – virtual art galleries. The first exhibition includes over 200 works made by contemporary artists.

The essence

The virtual gallery is an interactive three-dimensional space where one can see various works of art. The visitor of the web exhibition can walk through the exhibition halls, like in a real gallery, approach the exhibits, examine the details and evaluate their size. At the same time, the guest of the virtual exhibition can get acquainted with the art fund of the gallery in details, as well as listen to the audio guide and get information about the authors of the works.

“Virtual galleries are available on the Internet and no additional software is required to view them. You just need to go to the site, – said the leading engineer of the laboratory, one of the authors of the project, Artyom Tishchenko. – In the real world, art galleries have a number of limitations, for example, the volume of art funds often exceeds the area of ​​exhibition site, and that is why galleries are physically unable to share all the works with visitors.”

Exhibition organizers have to sacrifice the display of some works of art in favor of displaying others, and some works may never receive public attention at all. Virtual galleries have unlimited exhibition space. Moreover, they are accessible from anywhere in the world where there is internet. The uniqueness of the project is in its accessibility and the “effect of presence”.

Where it all began

For more than 15 years, the research laboratory has been developing aerobatic stands and carries out activities in the field of programming and three-dimensional graphics. The lab team found a way to integrate 3D elements into websites and later used their experience to shape the basic software environment for the project.

The technology of virtual spaces is intended to replace the 360​​° photo technology, which, according to the creators of Internet museums, is ideologically outdated, and, moreover, does not create the effect of presence.

Now the gallery displays paintings by the member of the International Association of Artists at UNESCO, the Union of Artists of Russia, laureate of the 1st prize of the International Biennale of Arts in Malta Alexander Sudts, a series of photographs by members of the TSHR Nikolai Tishchenko and Vladimir Dzemidko, works by artists Valery and Marina Kolotviny, Oksana Melnikova, Konstantin Egorov and young aspiring artist Maria Shcherba.

Virtual gallery available via link http://virtual-spaces.online/big-gallery/

Entering the country level

The possibilities of the online gallery are restricted only by the power of the computer and the amount of server memory. Virtual showrooms can accommodate any number of artworks. The authors of the project plan to combine outstanding collections of galleries from different cities so that visitors to the virtual museum have the opportunity to remotely evaluate the unique work of Russian and foreign artists.

The creators are now working on local virtual museums and galleries for private art funds. In the future, the project will help unite creative and art organizations, schools, institutes, galleries and will allow talented artists to show their works to people – authors will be able to exhibit their work on the platform.

The advantage of the exhibition over any video or animation is the interactivity. The creators are confident that interactive 3D graphics integrated into websites are the future of modern presentation technologies, as well as a large space for creativity. The technology has just begun its development path, and virtual galleries have no analogues in the world yet.