Sarcophagus of the Spouses, a trans-media project

Can technology, which continually revolutionises our world, bring to life a work of art?

The trans-media project between the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome and the History Museum of Bologna Genus Bononiae focused on the Sarcophagus of the Spouses, is a possible answer.

The museums, with the support of CINECA, the Inter-university super calculation consortium, Bracco Foundation and the collaboration of the University of Bologna, have set up a multimedia twinning, which in October 2014 create a double exhibition event without precedent internationally.

The Sarcophagus of the Spouses, one of the most important masterpieces of Etruscan art, created around 520 BC and exhibited at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome, has been digitalised with avant-garde technologies and, in this new high-tech version, is the leading life-size player of an engaging installation in Palazzo Pepoli in Bologna, as part of the exhibition "The voyage beyond life. The Etruscans and the hereafter, masterpieces and virtual reality".

In the Roman Museum, that houses the sarcophagus, the "Apa the Etruscan arrives in Rome" exhibition propose an ideal voyage towards the city of Bologna, the Etruscan Felsina, recalled in the exhibition by objects symbolising its culture.

The Bologna installation, with correspondence and continuity, can offer spectators not just an emotional and engaging experience, but can also reproduce the scientifically exact perception of a work of art, “put on stage” in an unprecedented three-dimensional form.

Bracco Foundation, as part of the Art and Technology project, has entered into an important partnership with CINECA to make the most of the Sarcophagus of the Spouses through mapping and virtual reconstruction of the relic, placed in a multimedia environment with original music and thrilling projections, a transportable display that could be put on show elsewhere.

Our exceptional guides in this dialogue between Rome and Bologna, between the physical relic and its virtual twin, are Apa and Ati, both Etruscans and both cartoons: he recounts with the voice of Lucio Dalla the history of Bologna and she, coming from southern Etruria and down by Sabrina Ferilli, accompanies the visitor in a rapid tour of the Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome and the Temple of Veio.