Immersive installation virtually transports you inside Leonardo's Last Supper

Interdisciplinary artist and academic Franz Fischnaller created theimmersive installation LastSupper Interactive, setting out to offer, with the use of 8K-3D augmented reality, aninteractive immersion into Leonardo da Vinci’sLast Supper and the historical and architectural context for which the masterpiece was created. Inaugurated on Sept. 8, 2023 during the Ars Electronica Festival entitled Who Owns the Truth?, the installation is housed until September 2024 in the immersive Deep Space at Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria.

The centerpiece of the project is the ultra-high resolution photograph of Leonardo’sLast Supper acquired by Haltadefinizione, a tech company of the Franco Cosimo Panini publishing house. The 21-billion-pixel image, composed of 1042 panoramic shots, is the result of the digitization campaign conducted on the masterpiece in 2010, carried out in collaboration with the Regional Directorate Museums Lombardy and the Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano. During the campaign, the innovative acquisition tools underwent technical testing by the Central Institute for Restoration in Rome, which recognized their suitability in full compliance with current regulations on the protection of artistic heritage.

Within Last Supper Interactive, Fischnaller has developed the Alberti’s Enunciation Virtual Tool, an interactive learning device inspired by Leon Battista Alberti ’s rules of perspective that intends to make people understand how linear perspective was used and applied by Leonardo within the Last Supper. Thanks to this tool, it is possible to observe the painting from different heights and perspectives, even from within the pictorial space, obtaining a unique view of the details and positions of the apostles at the table.

In this way, the LastSupper Interactive application gives visitors the opportunity to be virtually transported “inside” theLast Supper, fully immersing themselves in the pictorial space of the painting, exploring and interacting with the masterpiece in real time.

The Laboratory of Computer Vision and Reverse Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano has completed a 3D digitization project of the architectural complex of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. This three-dimensional digital model, within which the gigapixel image of the Last Supper created by Haltadefinizione has been integrated, makes it possible to offer the public an unprecedented experience of Leonardo’s masterpiece. The 3D architectural representation is distinguished by the use of layered textures and complex visual effects, as well as the use of a specially composed soundtrack to emotionally engage the audience and enhance immersion in the virtual experience.

Last Supper Interactive will remain for one year at Deep Space 8K, a 16 x 9-meter stereo 8K-3D immersive projection space that offers wall and floor projections with the integration of interactive, stereoscopic and ultra-high-definition content.

Image: Franz Fischnaller, Last Supper Interactive (Deep Space 8K)

Franz Fischnaller, Last Supper

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Immersive installation virtually transports you inside Leonardo's Last Supper

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