In cooperation with Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Studio Jester Blank created one of the first fully immersive, entirely three dimensional tours of the opening exhibition 'Near Life' in the James-Simon-Gallery.
The entire space, with all of its exhibits was captured via laser scan and photogrammetry. From this vast data set we then created an almost lifelike virtual space, in which the viewer can move freely, look at objects from all angles and listen to the exhibitions audio commentary.
Client:
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Product:
Virtual, fully immersive tour & individual high resolution digital twins
Services:
Consulting & Concept, Photogrammetry, Laser Scan, Full Post-Production
Year:
2020
Team:
Philipp Jester, Jens Blank, Cornelius Diemer, Noah Yadim, Julika Quilisch
Exhibition architecture:
SchroederRauch
A digital environment offers different options compared to an actual exhibition. In response to this challenge we decided on a strategy that combines elements of a traditional museum visit, paired with new technology.
To achieve that, we did not only focus on the space itself, but created additional high resolution digital twins for the exhibitions 22 most important pieces. The visitor can navigate to those via walking around the main space. The individual models offer yet another level of high definition detail as far as texture and shape is concerned, as well as the exhibitions audio commentary for additional context.
Location:
Berlin, Museum Island
James-Simon-Galerie
Space dimensions:
650 sqm
Number of objects:
approx. 200
Viewer:
sketchfab & custom build on request
Texture Resolution:
16384 x 16384 px
8192 x 8192 px on Sketchfab
Geometry:
Optimized quad topology
It's your first time navigating a 3D environment, or you are finding it difficult? We've made a tutorial. Watch it here.
Sketchfab compatible browsers are: Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge & Safari (with enabled WebGL). In our experience Chrome and Firefox work best.
Locoön Group
Master model, 1844
Plaster, shellacked
242 x 184 x 100 cm
(Original: ca. 1st century BCE, Roman copy at Vatican Museums, Rome)
The Greek Locoön Group was discovered in Rome in 1506. The version shown here from 1844 includes Locoön’s outstretched arm, which was added to the sculpture at a later stage. The original arm was in fact found in 1905; its copy is also in the collection of the Gipsformerei. The soot deeply ingrained in the surface of this master model is either due to the railway nearby the Gipsformerei or the fire at the premises towards the end of World War II.
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gipsformerei
Crocodile
Master model, 1892
Plaster, shellacked
Length: 290 cm
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gipsformerei
This crocodile was presumably moulded at the zoo. It is part of the former collection of teaching aids of the Königliches Kunstgewerbemuseum (Royal Arts and Crafts Museum) in Berlin. Among them are plaster casts of architectural elements, arts-and-crafts objects, famous sculptures and roughly one hundred casts of human body parts as well as parts of animals. The teaching aids were used in drawing classes at the Unterrichtsanstalt des Kunstgewerbemuseums (Teaching Institute of the Royal Arts and Crafts Museum) in Berlin. They were also made to be sold to other teaching institutions. The crocodile’s price in the 1890s was set at 50 marks.
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gipsformerei
Soil
by Asta Gröting (*1961)
Epoxy resin, 24-carat gold
206 x 216 x 50 cm
Galerie carlier | gebauer Berlin
In a field in Oderbruch, eastern Germany, Asta Gröting began this work by creating a multiple-part plaster negative, which was to serve as the basis for casting several positives. These positives were then painted the colour of dirt, had phosphorus applied to them, or were gilded. Here, in keeping with her practice, the choice of the casting technique is a conceptual decision: the cast makes things visible which are normally hidden from sight.
© Asta Gröting / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
Mausoleum
by Asta Gröting (*1961)
Silicone, jute
373 x 373 x 10 cm
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
For her series ‘Berlin Fassaden’ artist Asta Gröting took moulds of entire facades of buildings in Berlin damaged during the last two weeks of the war in April 1945. Render, dirt, dust, moss, entire pieces of graffiti, all has been faithfully transferred to silicone. The work Mausoleum is a reference to the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof. Seeing the unusual negative form causes a change of perspective: you look out onto the world from inside the wall.
© Asta Gröting / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
L'Âge d'arain / The Bronze Age
1875–76
by Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
Plaster
Height: 181 cm
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Skulpturensammlung, 1738
This sculpture was met with fierce criticism at the Salon in Paris in 1877, the charge being made that it was a lifecast. Rodin passionately defended the integrity of his work, but it was only in 1880 — when several fellow sculptors submitted their expert opinion — that the artist was completely exculpated. Today this work is among Rodin’s most widely distributed sculptures: roughly 150 casts authorised by the artist are to be found in museums and collections all over the world. The version on display here is an early plaster cast from Dresden, which served as the basis for several casts made in the 1950s and 1960s. The traces of shellac are a reminder that even authenticated plasters were in danger of being misunderstood as replicas.
© Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Ultimate life: Casting from death
Plaster can directly capture life and is equally capable of documenting the end of life, that brief moment when life morphs into death. No artefact comes as close to achieving this as the death mask. From its physical contact with the face of a person who was alive only a moment ago, the death mask distils an allegedly authentic cast that confronts death with ‘ultimate life’, something which is utterly beyond its reach. In addition to a selection of master or gelatin models of death masks from the Gipsformerei, two original death masks from the Nationalgalerie, realized as busts, and exhibition copies of the famous plaster casts of the dead from Pompeii are presented here.
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gipsformerei
Prologue: 200 Years of Casting Plaster
Plaster, resin, Metal
Height: various
Staatliche Museem zu Berlin, Gipsformerei
The Berlin Gipsformerei was founded in 1819 following the example of the Parisian Atelier de Moulage. Since then, the Gipsformerei has relied on time-honoured handcraft traditions to turn out casts of signature sculptures, ranging in date of origin from prehistory and early history to the twentieth century. Since the opening of the Altes Museum in 1830, the Gipsformerei has officially been part of the Königliche Museen (Royal Museums) and is thus their oldest institution. Today, it is one of the few places in the world where the traditional moulding and casting skills are still actively cultivated. At the same time, the Gipsformerei has an important collection of historical moulds and models. This collection is the ‘heart’ of the exhibition “Near Life. The Gipsformerei - 200 Years of Casting Plaster”.
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gipsformerei
Find more digitized objects from the 'Near Life' exhibition on our Sketchfab account, or the Sketchfab account of the National Museums of Berlin.
Number of highRes digitized objects:
22
Materials:
Plaster, Rubber, Resin, Metal
Viewer:
sketchfab & custom build on request
Texture Resolution:
16384 x 16384 px
8192 x 8192 px on Sketchfab
Geometry:
Optimized quad topology
Digitizing the entire gallery was an extensive task. The dimension of the space, the number of exhibits combined with time and access limitations had us working in shifts throughout the night.
Later at the post processing stage size and object number became another issue. Geometry and especially textures had to be optimized for online viewing without compromising too much quality.
In cooperation with Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Studio Jester Blank created one of the first fully immersive, entirely three dimensional tours of the opening exhibition 'Near Life' in the James-Simon-Gallery.
The entire space, with all of its exhibits was captured via laser scan and photogrammetry. From this vast data set we then created an almost lifelike virtual space, in which the viewer can move freely, look at objects from all angles and listen to the exhibitions audio commentary.
Client
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Product
Virtual, fully immersive tour & individual high resolution digital twins
Services
Consulting Concept
Photogrammetry
Laser Scan
Full Post-Production
Year
2020
Team
Philipp Jester, Jens Blank, Cornelius Diemer, Noah Yadim, Julika Quilisch
Exhibition architecture
SchroederRauch
It's your first time navigating a 3D environment, or you are finding it difficult? We've made a tutorial. Watch it here.
Sketchfab compatible browsers are: Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge & Safari (with enabled WebGL). In our experience Chrome and Firefox work best.
While it is clear, that a digital environment is currently not able to fully replicate the extraordinary experience of a museum visit, we still pushed the available technology to get our tour as close to real life as possible.
To achieve that, we did not only focus on the space itself, but created additional high resolution digital twins for the exhibitions 22 most important pieces.The visitor can navigate to those via walking around the main space.
The individual models offer yet another level of high definition detail as far as texture and shape is concerned, as well as the exhibitions audio commentary for additional context.
Location
Berlin, Museum Island
James-Simon-Galerie
Space dimensions
650 sqm
Number of highRes digitized exhibits
22
Viewer
sketchfab & custom build on request
Texture Resolution
16384 x 16384 px
8192 x 8192 px on Sketchfab
Geometry
Optimized quad topology
Locoön Group
Master model, 1844
Plaster, shellacked
242 x 184 x 100 cm
(Original: ca. 1st century BCE, Roman copy at Vatican Museums, Rome)
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Crocodile
Master model, 1892
Plaster, shellacked
Length: 290 cm
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Soil by Asta Gröting (* 1961)
Epoxy resin, 24-carat gold
206 x 216 x 50 cm
Galerie carlier | gebauer, Berlin
© Asta Gröting / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
L'Âge d'arain (The Bronze Age)
by Auguste Rodin (1840–1917)
Plaster
Height: 181 cm
© Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Find more digitized objects from the 'Near Life' exhibition on the official Sketchfab account of the National Museums of Berlin.
Digitizing the entire gallery was an extensive task. The dimension of the space, the number of exhibits combined with time and access limitations had us working in shifts throughout the night.
Later at the post processing stage size and object number became another issue. Geometry and especially textures had to be optimized for online viewing without compromising too much quality.
Studio Jester Blank
Oranienstr. 189
10999 Berlin
Germany
UsSt.-Ident.-Nr.:
DE280311075
© Studio Jester Blank, 2023
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