VR Experience: Cosmorama. The Great Virtual Show
The promise of a virtual journey has always been implicit in the narratives of cosmoramas. This experience of Virtual Reality evokes that long-standing aspiration, while also enabling the recreation of one of the most renowned cosmoramas in Lisbon: the Grand Optical Gallery by the Austrian Thomas Karl Andorfer. Originally, this is a ‘physically augmented Virtual Reality experience’, prepared for a specific space of the Portuguese Cinematheque. The physical space of the exhibition room has been modelled to enhance the realism of the virtual experience. Visitors can not only see, but also touch the walls and objects around them.
In the first part of this virtual experience, visitors are invited to look through six thematically organised lenses and select different cosmoramic scenes from a menu. The illusion of optical depth in these virtual lenses has been recreated using ‘depth maps’ generated by artificial intelligence algorithms.
Next, visitors can interact with a map that reveals the routes taken by the main cosmorama showmen who travelled across the Iberian Peninsula. Before concluding the experience, they are invited to observe and touch a miniature model of the Belém Tower—a typical feature of traditional cosmoramas—and to approach a window overlooking Lisbon’s Praça do Município, where they can witness the arrival of the royal family on a visit to the cosmorama.
Developed by: R&D Project Curiositas: Peeping Before Virtual Reality. A Media Archaeology of Immersion Through VR and the Iberian Cosmoramas 2022-2025
Early Visual Media Lab— CICANT, Lusófona University and IHA-Instituto de História da Arte, FCSH/IN2PAST, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
