Recently, ITPI joined forces with Professor Sandra Kemp, the esteemed curator of the Ruskin Museum and Research Centre, for a transformative project. The Ruskin Project focuses on celebrating the legacy of John Ruskin by utilising Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) and Artifical Intelligence (AI) to provide a unique platform for appreciating and learning about his work.
John Ruskin (1819-1900), The epoch-defining writer, artist, and social thinker.
The Ruskin opened a museum and research centre at the Lancaster University campus with the aim to make Ruskins collection, programme and research accessible to more people.
As The Ruskin building had to close, we have teamed up with the Ruskin team to aid the redevelopment project so that this, aiming to get the museum and research centre open again.
Our team has been working hard to put together a set of experiences using VR, AR. and AI to capture the essence of Ruskin's art and philosophy. In doing so, we are exploring a whole new realm, integrating this cutting-edge technology and the work of such a highly respected thinker to bring his remarkable legacy to the modern world. We believe the work of John Ruskin was truley remarkable and therefore should be celebrated and shared in our day and age as there is so much potential for learning from his work.
The ITPI team are working closely with the Curator of the Ruskin Museum and Resarch Centre who is Professor Sandra Kemp.
When The Ruskin approached us about this project, their concerns lied in the lack of awareness around Ruskin, his work, and the museum. Therefore, we wanted to provide an innovative solution.
Our question therefore was, 'How could we create a desire to learn about Ruskin and make his work accessible throughout the world to people of all ages and backgrounds through one innovative solutions?'
We came up with a series of experiences using the latest and most popular technologies... Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and even utilised Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In using these technologies, we have been able to attract various audiences to Ruskin’s work, creating engaging experiences that appeal to all and can be accessed by a wide variety of people.
Working on this project has been truly rewarding. For us, seeing you use and enjoy the experiences we've created means everything. As you can see from the images below, we have been able to reach a wide audience and the impact of these experiences have really been shown in the feedback we've received.
Our Ruskin Imagination Cave experience in VR allows you to create anything you like in the style of Ruskin using AI. We have seen how successful this experience has been amongst the younger audience as they are fascinated by the creations they have made and the unique Ruskin style. This experience allows them to use their creativity and inspires them to learn about Ruskin as they are intrigued by this style of art.
We have come up with an innovative postcard experience allowing you to see the word through a different lens. The postcards are scannable through the 8th wall platform, allowing you to see the story behind the images on the postcards. Whether it's the bigger picture or the painting in a modern day context, the postcards aim to teach you about Ruskin's thinking and the philosophy he was trying to instil. By using AR, this experience has attracted people through its innovative and engaging approach.
We've used Ruskin Cyanometer creation and turned it into an AR experience. This allows you to measure the colour of your sky from anywhere, a concept created by Ruskin in his aim to asses climate change. Bringing a 19th century creation into the modern world through an engaging way that allows you to share your sky.
We want to get as many people as possible engaging with our experiences and learning about Ruskin. Therefore, we have created them very carefully so that they are easy and fun to use, made for all audiences to us (even when carrying your baby). We are also really encouraging young children to learn about Ruskin and these innovative ways have proved to be a great solution as they love technology.
We're so glad you've liked our experiences. By letting us know what you've liked and how we can improve, we can work to constantly better our offering.
The team behind this project has really been working hard to make it the success it is becoming. Here you can find the ITPI members who have been working on this project:
Lead the interface between the client and the team, reviewing and overlooking the project.
Developers working on the VR experiences.
Developers working on the AR experiences.
UI/UX Developers and design guidance for the experiences.
Assisting with any Marketing, Admin and events for the project.
