In Urbino, a contest aimed at students to bring Raphael... inside a video game

A very special initiative that the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche will present on October 24 in collaboration with Microsoft: Raphael in Minecraft. It is a contest to involve students from all over Italy to recreate the life of Raphael Sanzio with Minecraft, a famous video game produced by Microsoft and available for PCs, video game consoles(Xbox, Nintendo and Playstation) and mobile devices that gives players the opportunity to create game worlds with cubic bricks, a bit like with LEGO.

A note from the National Gallery states, "The idea is to involve young digital users from local educational institutions starts with the creation of a short film showing a cross-section of daily life in Urbino at the end of the 15th century. In the video, it will be possible to recognize a young Raphael growing up in the house-still visitable today-of his father, the famous Giovanni Santi, a multifaceted artist who was very active and esteemed by the ducal court of Urbino. In his father’s workshop, Raphael met and frequented the great painters of the time who would later influence his artistic growth. Starting from this first video, which will be published on the Museum’s website, we will try to involve children in the next phase of storytelling, letting the various schools, in shared sessions, decide which part of Raphael’s story to tell, participating in the construction of Minecraft content, with an original and ’gamified’ storytelling."

National Gallery Director Dr. Peter Aufreiter enthusiastically states:c "The proliferation of new technologies has prompted the National Gallery of the Marches to reconsider its offerings by transforming itself into an interdisciplinary platform for experimentation and learning. It is of paramount importance for our museum to be able to count on a variety of solutions to differentiate its cultural offerings and focus on different audience segments. One-third of our visitors are students on school trips, which even increased by 20 percent this year. We can introduce our young users to and appreciate the beauty of the Ducal Palace and Urbino also through innovative digital tools that allow us to stimulate their participation and interest so that their relationship with the museum is no longer one-way."

The competition will close in May 2019, just in time for the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death, which will be celebrated in 2020. The project is curated by Marco Vigelini(MakerCamp.it) and Sebastiano Deva(Apptripper) with support from Microsoft. To learn more you can visit the official website of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche.

In Urbino, a contest aimed at students to bring Raphael... inside a video game

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