Within Work Package 1 – Art: art creation, reception, and art market, CAPHE partners have recently advanced the development of Deliverable D1.3 (Virtual Tour with Kenyan Art Collector M. Mutuma Marangu) through a series of interconnected artistic and research activities implemented during the Resonances of Stones Biennale in Naxos (August–September 2025). The work was led by the Polish Society for Aesthetics and Conservatorio Giacomo Puccini in La Spezia, with support of researchers from the Faculty of Fine Art in Lisbon.
Photo by Ivan Halak
The Naxos programme — including the opening of the Immersive Hybrid Exhibition Resonances of Stones. TMMSAC© at Naxos (curated by Dr. Bogna J. Gladden-Obidzińska, Prof. Alessandra Montali, and Prof. Aleksandra Łukaszewicz), the International Symposium Transcultural Immersive Encounters through Sculpture, Architecture and Music, as well as workshops such as Walking the Resonances: AI, Sound and Storytelling in Hybrid Heritage Games led by Dr. Dorota Hrycak-Krzyżanowska — served as a real-world testing environment for CAPHE’s XR-based methodologies.
Photo by Ivan Halak
These activities brought together artistic practice, architectural heritage, and immersive sound research in order to directly inform the conceptual and technical framework of Deliverable D1.3. In collaboration with Mr. Mutuma Marangu, founder of the Mutuma Marangu Sculpture and Art Collection (TMMSAC©), CAPHE researchers worked with digitised sculptural works by internationally recognised Kenyan artists, including Peter Oendo Kenyaya, Robin Okeyo Mbera, Gerard Motondi Oroo, and John Tabule Abuya Ogao.
Through the use of 3D scanning, architectural measurement, 360° sound recording, and acoustic auralisation of the Bazeos Tower spaces on Naxos — developed in collaboration with Prof. José Revez (FBAUL), Anastasia Tsoutsouka (NKUA), and Gianluca Aresu (Conservatorio Castelfranco Veneto) — CAPHE partners created multisensory virtual environments hosting digitised sculptures embedded within a digitally reconstructed heritage site.
Photo by Ivan Halak
The experimental integration of visual and sonic research strands, developed and led by Prof. Alessandra Montali (Conservatorio Giacomo Puccini) in collaboration with members of the Polish Society for Aesthetics (PTE), enabled the realisation of a virtual tour that exemplifies how immersive digital technologies can support artistic creation, exhibition design, audience reception, and new models of transcultural exchange.
Photo by Bogna J. Gladden-Obidzińska
By situating contemporary Kenyan sculptural practices within a virtualised and sonically enhanced architectural environment, the Deliverable demonstrates innovative approaches to engaging both tangible and intangible cultural heritage in hybrid environments. Through this integration of artistic production and immersive technologies, CAPHE continues to develop scalable methodologies for XR-based exhibition design and community-oriented participation across geographical and cultural boundaries.
Photo by Ivan Halak