Augmented Reality and Avatars for Museum Heritage Storytelling

This research has been carried out in the framework of the research agreement to enhance the cultural assets of the Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO) in Turin through digitization, 3D modelling and experiences in virtual and augmented reality. The aim of the present work is to communicate the evolutionary process in Buddha iconography in the Mathura area through three statues from the permanent collection of the MAO. This aim is connected with the general goal to increase inclusivity and remove spatiotemporal barriers in museums and their collections by meeting the diverse needs of visitors related to age, physical, sensory, cognitive, and cultural factors. The pipeline passes through the digital survey and 3D modelling of the artworks, the philological reconstruction modelling of the lacunae, the creation of an avatar guide, and the elaboration of the tour path in augmented reality (AR). Digital storytelling connected to the avatar enriches the experience by providing information about the context, history, and characters related to the works. One of the values that characterize the entire process is the predominant use of free and open-source software (FOSS) up to the prototype stage.