VR Applications for Cultural Heritage: Harnessing Proxemics and Interactivity for Heritage Dissemination

Abstract

Recently, Virtual Reality (VR) has witnessed remarkable growth across various fields, such as education, gaming, and entertainment. In the cultural heritage domain, VR has demonstrated its significance by enabling digital reconstructions of buildings and objects. It allows the public to access virtual representations, interpreting and disseminating cultural heritage through virtual visual storytelling experiences. Despite its potential, VR remains underutilized in the cultural field. By leveraging VR’s extensive capabilities alongside on-site experiences, it offers a comprehensive exploration of architectural and museum environments, becoming a versatile tool for interpretation, learning, and knowledge dissemination. VR introduces innovative paradigms like proxemics, interactivity, and immersion in entirely new digital worlds. The study conducts an in-depth analysis of this ever-evolving technology, with a focus on its applications in two significant case studies: the Museo Egizio of Torino and the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milano. The investigation critically assess VR’s effectiveness, highlighting its potential to implement visitors’ experience and improve knowledge dissemination of both tangible and intangible aspects embedded in museums’ collections and historical buildings.

Keywords

• virtual reality
• cultural heritage
• digital proxemics
• interactivity
• museum