‘Explore Vatican’ exhibition—a fusion of technology and cultural heritage

Los Angeles, CA, July—November 2023

Brief

The allure of Vatican City, with its rich cultural and artistic heritage, has always captivated visitors from around the world. In an ambitious endeavor, PDA Ventures envisioned the creation of an immersive experience that would allow visitors to delve into the heart of Vatican City.

Execution

In collaboration with PDA Ventures, Elephant Design, and John & Ashley Noronha, Front Pictures developed the ‘Explore Vatican’ multimedia exhibition. The key focus of our team was the Immersive Zone, which featured 360-degree projections enveloping the walls, ceiling, and floor. To digitally recreate the Vatican art with extreme fidelity, Front Pictures employed advanced technologies like photogrammetry, high-resolution photography, and AI image enhancement.

Result

The Immersive Zone of the 'Explore Vatican' experience became a virtual gateway to one of Earth's most impressive locations. By transcending traditional exhibition methods, it showcased the Vatican's artistic and architectural grandeur, providing an engaging and immersive experience for both Vatican enthusiasts and first-time explorers. This exhibition condensed what would normally take days into a 30-minute tour, capturing the essence of human genius.

Client

PDA Ventures

In collaboration with

Elephant Design
John & Ashley Noronha

Capabilities

Art Direction, Immersive Design, Motion Graphics, 2D/3D Animation, Photogrammetry, AV Engineering

The Vatican, a city-state celebrated for its unparalleled concentration of cultural heritage, has long captivated the world. Home to masterpieces by Michelangelo, Raphael, Giotto, and other prominent artists, it stands as a beacon of historical and artistic significance. To present this treasure trove in a novel way, the 'Explore Vatican' exhibition was conceptualized to offer an immersive, educational, and engaging experience, transforming the way people interact with art and history.

To bring this ambitious project to life, PDA Ventures created an international team including design company Elephant Design, multimedia specialists Front Pictures, and Vatican experts John & Ashley Noronha.

The exhibition spanned a vast 20,000 square feet, divided into three distinct zones:

Discover Zone: An introductory area providing visitors with historical context and insights into the Vatican’s significance.
Immersive Zone: The centerpiece of the exhibition, a 38.1 x 20.4 m (125 x 67 ft) space with a height of up to 7.3 m (24 ft). This zone featured synchronized projections on its walls, ceilings, and floors, creating a 360-degree immersive environment. Notable landmarks like St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museums were brought to life.
Engage Zone: An interactive area where visitors could engage with VR, games, a photo booth etc.

The Immersive Zone represented the most technologically advanced part of the exhibition.

The setup included a single Screenberry media server handling the playback of an extraordinary 13,376 x 6,592px (88 Mp) video and feeding 36 DP E-Vision 5100 projectors, which were aligned with the help of Screenberry’s automatic and manual calibration techniques.

‘Explore Vatican’ welcomed visitors from July 15th to October 31st at ACE Mission Studios in Los Angeles, CA. It quickly garnered attention, with several TV reports highlighting the exhibition and a stream of positive reviews on social media.

Credits

Project Management
Maxim Zaitsev

Executive Producer
Yuri Kostenko

Art Director
Olexiy Sai

Technical Director
Eugene Gruzdev

CG Artists
Max Poberezhskyi
Viacheslav Yaroslavskiy
Alexander Kirchu
Konstiantyn Brylov
Maksym Kutlakhmetov (UMA Vision)
Vasco Miguel (MØJØ Studio)
Catarina Saal (MØJØ Studio)
Heorhii Sahitov
Taras Burlin

2D Animation
Mykola “Koka” Kovtun – Supermakaka Pictures

3D Modeling
Volodymmyr Bezmelitsyn
Oleg Pastushenko

Video Edit and Compositing
Eugene Gruzdev

Retouching, Rotoscoping
Tetyana Pastushenko
Oleg Pastushenko
Konstiantyn Brylov

Video Shooting
The Mine Production
DOP
Vladyslav Rudnyk

Music and Sound Design
Cavemen Records
Vlad Kurach
Anton Greedin
Vitaliy Kandyba

Technology
Screenberry Media Server

Media Server Operators
Mykhailo Telenchenko
Mykhailo Panchyk