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An Archaeology of Perception in the Metaverse: Seeing a World Within a World Through the Artist’s Eye

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Augmented and Virtual Reality in the Metaverse

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Cultural Computing ((SSCC))

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Abstract

This chapter proposes a 3D Virtual Reality (VR) metaverse in the shape of a world within a world, to be used for an experiential archaeological approach, to facilitate understanding the sensoriality of past individuals. Virtual reconstructions of the archaeological remains have so far failed to recreate a realistic experiential environment. For this purpose, we selected as study site a house of artists from the past (1930) from the town of Balchik, around which we built the proposed metaverse, with the objects of study being the house and artistic work of the painter Cecilia Cuţescu-Stork. The metaverse is designed to provide rich sensory experiences in order to allow a better understanding of the artworks and the context in which they were made. The VR metaverse is comprised two connected 3D virtual spaces that users can traverse, including with VR headsets, each space contributing to a cognitive augmentation through the sensory qualities of the constructed virtual space. The metaverse reconstruction will allow access to both specialists and the public, as the metaverse is implemented on a free VR platform (Mozilla Hubs).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Used as an instrument in science, metaphor is a first tool “when trying to unravel a complicated theme” (Calvin 2004), resulting from “direct physical experience” (Lakoff and Johnson 1980, p. 57).

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Vladimir Geroimenko for the kind invitation to contribute to this book. Thanks also to Mihaela Moţăianu for photography and digital processing of images and to the art students and writers who participated in the various testing of the Metaverse. Last, but not least, many thanks to M. Bogdan Căpruciu for the useful comments and to Mrs. Cornelia Cătuna for the editing of the text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Arts, Bucharest, Romania

    Dragoş Gheorghiu & Cornelia Moţăianu

  2. Earth and Memory Institute, Centre for Geosciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Mação, Portugal

    Dragoş Gheorghiu

  3. Independent Researcher, Bucharest, Romania

    Livia Ştefan

  4. University of Theatre and Film, Bucharest, Romania

    Marius Hodea

Authors
  1. Dragoş Gheorghiu
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  2. Livia Ştefan
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  3. Marius Hodea
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  4. Cornelia Moţăianu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dragoş Gheorghiu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Informatics and Computer Science, British University in Egypt, El Sherouk City, Egypt

    Vladimir Geroimenko

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Gheorghiu, D., Ştefan, L., Hodea, M., Moţăianu, C. (2024). An Archaeology of Perception in the Metaverse: Seeing a World Within a World Through the Artist’s Eye. In: Geroimenko, V. (eds) Augmented and Virtual Reality in the Metaverse. Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57746-8_10

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