While the renovation work on Vinci’s Last Supper has now been confirmed, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper moves to the Deep Space of the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria: it is not, however, the delicate wall fresco scrupulously preserved in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, but of a 3D reconstruction that recreates the original environment of the masterpiece of the Renaissance genius. THE LAST SUPPER IN AUGMENTED REALITY It is titled Last Supper Interactive (LSI), and is an immersive installation created by the artist Franz Fischnaller, inaugurated in the context of the Ars Electronica Festival. The project is made possible by the collaboration with the famous tech company Haltadefinizione, committed to the digitization of works of art. Working with a very high resolution image of the Last Supper, Franz Fischnaller has recreated a work in augmented reality in 8K-3D, which allows the viewer to immerse himself in the masterpiece at 360 degrees, understanding its historical and architectural context. The work is made interactive by the Virtual Tool of Alberti’s Utterance, a learning device inspired by Leon Battista Alberti’s perspective rules: the visitor can not only observe the painting from different heights and perspectives, but can even overcome the boundaries of the representation and enter the fresco to explore it in real time. Finally, there is also a soundtrack specially composed to increase the feeling of involvement in the immersive environment. THE HALTADEFINITION DIGITALIZATION CAMPAIGN The very high definition image underlying the work (with 21 billion pixels and composed of 1042 panoramic shots ) is the result of the digitization campaign conducted on the wall painting in 2010, created by Haltadefinizione in collaboration with the Lombardy Regional Museums Directorate and the Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano. The initiative is not limited to promoting the conservation of the digitized image of the fragile fresco, but also allows for the democratization of the use of the work, as well as carrying out an important support activity for restoration diagnostic investigations.
[Immagine in apertura: Cristo e i dodici apostoli con le loro espressioni corporee e gestuali raffigurati come sulla superficie bidimensionale della pittura murale, Deep Space 8K.LSI, Franz Fischnaller]
