Project description
The digital age of cultural preservation and exploration
In the world of cultural heritage, there is a ‘sonic gap’ that hinders our ability to fully appreciate and experience the richness of historical sites and objects. While visual communication dominates, the vital auditory dimension remains unexplored. In this context, the European Research Council-funded VALSOUNDS project will design an immersive multimedia digital valorisation tool. Specifically, this prototype interface utilises 3-D and augmented reality technology, focusing on the audio aspects of museums and cultural heritage sites. By harnessing the emerging field of archaeoacoustics, VALSOUNDS aims to digitally reconstruct the soundscapes of Valois palaces from around 1400. This collaborative effort between acousticians, architectural historians and musicologists will bridge the ‘sonic gap’, allowing historical contexts to be experienced in a new dimension.
Objective
The VALSOUNDS project will design a prototype multimedia digital valorisation tool that allows museums and cultural heritage institutions to highlight the sonic aspects of their collections or sites. This will be done through an innovative, immersive (3-D, AR) digital interface with a focus on audio.
Existing applications tend to privilege visual communication (images, text), deploying no or inadequate audio components. This ‘sonic gap’ often means missing out on sonic aspects that are crucial for fully appreciating and experiencing the cultural meaning of a given site or object. A significant number of sites has also been irrevocably altered or destroyed, making it impossible by analogue means to produce the sounds required for a historically informed hearing experience.
The new field of archaeo-acoustics enables digital reconstructions (‘auralizations’) of lost or altered spaces and sites. Existing case studies concerning the European Middle Ages were carried out primarily on sacred spaces (e.g. Pentcheva & Abel 2017), and only quite recently on court architecture (Sluyts et al. 2021). VALSOUNDS will build on the latter and conduct a case study of Valois palaces (c. 1400). The Valois courts have long been identified as sites of some of the most significant musical developments of their time; but they were also sites of conspicuous architectural innovation, making them a prime object for archaeo-acoustic study. Through a collaboration of acousticians, architectural historians, historical musicologists, heritage sites, performers, and private enterprise, VALSOUNDS reconstructs the Valois courts’ soundscape digitally, and embeds the resulting audio experience in an immersive multimedia environment that will be both sustainable and transferable for similar mediation concepts. This enhanced level of mediation for audio content not only anticipates the marketing needs of heritage sites in the digital age but also lends itself to multiple commercial applications.
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept GrantsHost institution
3000 Leuven
Belgium