Browsing by Author "Storz, Dhruva Gowda"

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    Stereo Spectacular: Reviving the Universal Exposition of 1867 in Virtual Reality through Historical Stereoscopic Photographs
    (The Eurographics Association, 2025) Storz, Dhruva Gowda; Mannane, Samy; Ramogida, Tonia; Cardot, Toussain; Kenderdine, Sarah; Campana, Stefano; Ferdani, Daniele; Graf, Holger; Guidi, Gabriele; Hegarty, Zackary; Pescarin, Sofia; Remondino, Fabio
    Stereo Spectacular unites 19th-century stereoscopic immersive media with contemporary virtual reality technologies, reconstructing the Exposition Universelle of Paris 1867 (UE1867) through archival stereoscopic photographs within an immersive museum experience. As a landmark historical event, the expo marked a turning point in visual culture. Part of the Expo's spectacular appeal involved the use of contemporary technologies in the service of museography and art. One such technology was stereography, which was used to extensively document the event through 1000+ stereoscopic photographs. Stereo Spectacular presents a navigable art-tectonic virtual reconstruction of the UE1867: hundreds of digitized, restored, geolocated, augmented, and sonified stereo pairs are configured into a navigable, map-based visual space that museum audiences can freely explore. Stereo Spectacular is built for a state-of-the-art multi-user 360° stereoscopic virtual reality system, but is scalable to any and all virtual reality and stereoscopic visualization hardware. The project presents a novel curatorial framework for reconstituting and reconfiguring stereo archives into compelling reconstructions of place and time. It demonstrates how image archives can become navigable VR places, and how multisensory augmentations can be used to shed new light on visions of the past. Importantly, the project transforms the individually viewed stereo pair into a socially experienced visual space, reinventing the historical stereo viewing experience, and - in the case of the UE1867 - reinterpreting the experience of visiting the fair through contemporary immersive visualization.