‘A WORLD OF POTENTIAL’, AN INTERACTIVE EXHIBITION ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF THE PROCURATIE VECCHIE (580 sqm) IN SAN MARCO SQUARE, STARTS TODAY: MULTIMEDIA AND IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES OF ETT, CREATIVE DIGITAL INDUSTRY
The exhibition offers an immersive experience in which each of us can understand and connect with their own personal ‘potential’, exploring the strengths of our personality and, simultaneously, the best qualities in the people around us.
By visiting ‘A World of Potential’, half of the ticket price will be donated to one of the programmes supported by The Human Safety Net, the Generali Assicurazioni network created to unlock the potential of people living in vulnerable situations and difficult circumstances.
Venice, 8 April 2022 – To mark the 190th anniversary of the founding of Generali, ‘A World of Potential’ opened an interactive exhibition hosted on the third floor of the Procuratie Vecchie, the buildings that wrap around three sides of St. Mark’s Square in Venice. The multimedia and immersive exhibits (hardware supply and installation and exhibit software development) are by ETT Creative Industries.
This is the first time in 500 years that a large part of the Procuratie Vecchie has been made accessible to the public. The Procuratie restoration project was commissioned by Generali to David Chipperfield Architects Milan in 2017.
The restoration project succeeded in recovering original Venetian materials and traditional workmanship by involving specialised companies and local craftsmen. The Generali-owned Procuratie Vecchie complex comprises approximately 12,400 square metres of total gross floor area, occupying approximately 85% of the portion of the building that closes the northern side of St. Mark’s Square. 580 square metres are dedicated to the exhibition, the main objective of which is to make all guests (visitors) find themselves.
The spaces are conceived to foster the interaction and sharing of contents with people through multimedia systems designed and implemented by ETT. The transversal axis and common denominator of these factors is the concept that all the participants ‘can access’ the challenge of acquiring self-awareness in terms of perseverance, creativity, hope, leadership, gratitude and team spirit, in order to set themselves in motion in their relationship with life, culture and art.
The visitor is engaged to become a ‘hub’ of The Human Safety Net (THSN), Generali’s network with the mission to unleash the potential of people living in vulnerable conditions so that they can improve the lives of their families and communities. It is precisely at this level that THSN in Venice has worked on the themes of social inclusion and human potential, the concepts underlying the entire exhibition.
‘Technology’, explains Giovanni Verreschi, ETT’s CEO, ‘is present in the exhibition where necessary and its use goes hand in hand with the idea of ‘accessibility’ that defines the semantic framework of the event. It therefore plays an important role in guaranteeing that experience of participation of the guests of the Procuratie Vecchie so emphasised and desired by the authors. Indeed, the objects on display are engaging and provoke the visitor to interact in order to discover different sides of their attitude towards reality. We are proud , Verreschi added, of the opportunity we had to collaborate on the ‘A World of Potential’ project with Generali, given the client’s far-sighted vision of the technological aspects, which were required not so much to be a diversionary voice as to be integrated within an initiative whose primary aim was to rediscover the human, bringing mankind together with himself.’
The Procuratie’s tour routes are designed to be approached at the ‘pace’ preferred by the individual visitor, so much so that there are spaces for stops, places to eat, chat or in any case linger.
At the entrance, the visitor is handed a multi-purpose ticket, a real Travel Card, equipped with NFC (contactless) sensors that communicate with all sections of ‘A World of Potential’.
Entering the heart of the exhibit one encounters Harlequin, Columbine and Pantalone, the protagonists of a scenic context in which the marionette tradition merges with technological innovation, generating a spectacular mechanised theatre where the three puppets welcome visitors. These, made by Colla, one of the most important families in the Italian puppetry tradition, are moved by eighteen high-precision motors, developed by ETT after more than eight months of design and prototyping work. In the background is an impressive 3D reconstruction of a room in the Procuratie and its wonderful view of the square.
We then enter an itinerary that immerses us in a new environment and ‘surrounds’ us with questions about human potential and its strengths: an immersive introductory show combines audio, video, animation and graphic elements on wall, ceiling and floor video walls.
A multiscope structure with 15 discovery points, which can be activated with the Travel Card, introduces visitors in succession to a puzzle of sounds, images and words, stimulating their curiosity.
In another exhibit, by means of technology similar to Augmented Reality, one can enjoy a novel perspective on Venice, inspired by the classic token panoramic binoculars: certain coordinates correspond to Points of Interest for a specific insight, from which one can access texts, images, videos and audio.
Continuing along the itinerary, one encounters a station with a forehead contact sensor that allows one to lift, while concentrating, a ball placed inside a cylinder adjacent to the station. At the end of the experience, the player receives a diagram illustrating the performance, based on the height levels reached by the ball. In this way, the exhibit tests the concentration ability on a single activity.
Through a monitor connected to an interactive sensor (kinect), one can choose an emotion and ‘draw’ a representative image in the air, directly with one’s own hands. Once completed, it is shown on a video wall along with the other shared contributions.
Visitors are then invited to think of a difficult moment or situation they are going through and to represent, by means of some monitor choices, their own situation. Next, 6 cognitive biases are identified that can have an impact when we have to deal with a complex situation.
Another exhibit probes leadership, listening and collaboration skills. Two players are required to construct an object based on a given image. The builder places his hands under a semi-dome of film. By pressing the start button, the film polarises, becoming opaque, and hides the pieces that must make up the object, selected by the instructor partner. By following instructions blindly and using only the sense of touch, the builder must understand which pieces to select and how to stack them in the correct order. The entire performance by the two participants is projected for the benefit of other visitors.
Arriving towards the end of the itinerary, the tree of gratitude welcomes ribbons printed in real time with the reasons why visitors feel they should be grateful, written on tablets.
As for teamwork skills, a cubic structure designed for a test of collaboration and listening, for which at least two people, up to a maximum of four people at the same time, are required. Four instruments positioned at the extremes are activated by four different mechanisms and produce a kind of flow that must reach the centre of the large LED table. Until the players are coordinated and manoeuvre the mechanisms harmoniously, the final part of the experience, designed to surprise and enhance teamwork, will not be activated.
Finally, we reach the epilogue of the ‘journey’, a goal that involves everyone taking a photo in front of the big H symbol of The Human Safety Net.
On the way out, visitors find a wall with pictures of those who have had the same experience.