Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (IC), Prahlad Singh Patel launched a month long special exhibition titled Indian Heritage in Digital Space and a two day long first international heritage symposium today in New Delhi. The exhibition was organized in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. The exhibitionwill remain open for public till 15th February, 2020. Secretary of Department of Science & Technology Ashutosh Sharma was also present on this occasion.
Speaking on the occasion Patel said that visitors in this exhibition will be able to see the recreations of the socio-cultural life and traditions of Hampi, architectural and conjectural reconstructions of several important structures and experience demystification of many murals. This is a good initiative, use of technology in heritage is very important but it should not be limited to research only, it should reach topeople in such a way that they get a chance to know and understand the unseen aspects of heritage sites easily.
The Minister further said that the Prime Minister always says that we have world class heritage and peoplefrom acrossthe globe visit India to see our rich cultural and historical heritage. In such a situation, we should introduce the history and features of these heritages through the use of technology.A person who comes to museum should be guided by use of technology so that it enriches their experience of the visit.
This exhibition showcase adaptation and infusion of technologies being developed under the Indian Digital Heritage (IDH) initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India in the cultural heritage domain of the country. The exhibition demonstrate the outcome of two flagship projects viz., A digital mini-spectacle to showcase the glory of Hampiand Augmented reality based interactions with physical models of monuments; that are completed under the DST mentored initiative Indian Heritage in Digital Space (IHDS). These two projects are executed by a multi-disciplinary teams from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, National Institute of Design Bengaluru, CSIR-CBRI Roorkee, Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology, and a women-led, IDH start-up Vizara Technologies, New Delhi. The goals of these projects are to create digital installations using 3D laser scan data, AR, holographic projections and 3D fabrication,to provide interactive and immersive experiences showcasing the glory of Hampi and five Indian monuments namely KashiVishwanath Temple, Varanasi; TajMahal, Agra; Sun Temple,Konark; Ramachandra Temple, Hampi ; and RaniKiVav, Patan .
This special exhibition, first of its kind in India,has a major focus to display the latest interventions in the cultural heritage domain, that are being driven by cutting-edge technologies such as 3D fabrication, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality, Holographic Projections and Projection Mapping etc. A special installation named ‘ViRaasat’, consisting of a scaled down 3D printed replica shall provide a mixed reality experience to visitors for selected monuments, using laser-scanning, 3D modelling and rendering, 3D printing, computer vision and spatial AR.
