Reality-Virtuality Continuum Between Heuristic Research and Museum Presentation. Experiences in Reconstructive Modelling and AR Communication

This research involved a multidisciplinary group of scholars with expertise in Indian art and archaeology, digital representation, and information processing systems, with the support of VR@POLITO and MOD Lab Arch of the Politecnico di Torino. The paper describes a project aimed at the analysis, interpretive reconstruction, and communication, using physical and digital media, of the features of a Buddha statue kept at the Asian Art Museum in Turin (MAO). The specific interest in the Buddha Gupta statue is related to the philological reconstruction of the gaps, which has engaged the research group in defining possible alternative references and hypotheses, comparing mounting solutions for one of the forearms, and choosing the most suitable modes of communication.