The event is dedicated to exploring how immersive technologies—virtual, augmented, and extended reality—can redefine the ways in which we experience artistic heritage. It begins with the story of a research project carried out at the Valenzi Foundation in Naples as part of the PhD program in Visual and Media Studies at IULM University of Milan, within the framework of the project Philosophy, Architecture, Augmented Reality: Visual-Media Models for a New Experience of Cultural Heritage.
Over a six-month period, various experiments and prototypes were developed to enhance the artistic heritage of the Valenzi Foundation, serving as a concrete testing ground for innovative models of visual and narrative interaction. Navigable 3D reconstructions, virtual tours, and 360° environments, together with augmented installations enriched with sound content, offer opportunities to rethink the relationship between physical space, the body, and digital perception.
These experiences act as critical practices: they redefine museum paradigms and open up aesthetic and phenomenological perspectives in which gesture, gaze, and movement become integral parts of the experience. In line with research that intertwines media studies, philosophical aesthetics, and museum design, the focus is not on what is transmitted but on how the experience is lived.
The aim is to propose an approach that places participation, accessibility, and inclusion at the center, recognizing heritage as both a right and a shared resource. At the same time, the narration of the contemporary becomes an opportunity to reflect on post-media culture, where new forms of vision open up unprecedented possibilities for engaging with art and collective memory.