Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival 2019

 
On October 26^th RISE participated at the Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival with the project “Ledra Palace Museum”. During the Festival, hundreds of visitors had the chance to experience and give us feedback on three technological prototypes that we are currently working on:
 
1.     The holographic Ledra Palace:  holographic images of historical photographic content from Ledra Palace were displayed through a physical structure that exploits light diffraction. Users could virtually interact with the holographic images and experience haptic feedback sensations of touch in mid-air.
 
2.     Virtual navigation of Ledra Palace: using a specialize scanning camera, a 3D model of Ledra Palace ground floor was created, in which users could navigate and experience specific areas as if they were actually there. This application can be experienced either with virtual reality headsets or on a projection in the space.
 
3.     Virtual reality interviews: this project displayed a set of interviews in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment. VR is a computer generated three-dimensional artificial environment that provides a sensory surrounding in which the user can experience and interact with as in real life.  
 
Visitors completed questionnaires in order to evaluate their experience with each one of these applications. The results will help us improve these technological solutions and further plan for the Ledra Palace Museum which will open as a temporary exhibition at the end of 2020.
 
Crowdsourcing: During the event, visitors also had the chance to submit stories and photographs they have from the Ledra Palace Hotel. The crowdsourcing is ongoing so if you, or anyone you know, has any reflections, memories or photos to share please let us know. All the material collected will be archived and used for the purposes of research and the Ledra Palace alternative museum. If you have any more information, please contact Dr. Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert (theopisti.stylianou@cut.ac.cy) and Dr. Antigone Heraclidou (a.heraclidou@rise.org.cy).

Team members: Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert (MRG Leader), Kleanthis Neocleous (MRG Leader), Marios Avramides (MRG Leader), Antigone Heraclidou, Savvas Avraam, Panayiotes Kyriacou, Fotos Frangoudes, Maria Shehade, Pantelis Diamantides, Myrto Aristidou, Iris Nibbering