Armenia, a millenia-old heritage at risk and new technologies
With Yves Ubelmann and Aurore Vaucelle
◇ 10 November 2023
On the occasion of the exhibition Armenia. Contemplating the sacred, the Boghossian Foundation invites Yves Ubelmann to reveal the behind-the-scenes footage from the films shown in the exhibition during a talk at the Villa Empain.
Designed by the teams at Iconem, this immersive digital experience devoted to Armenia reveals several of the country’s major Christian sites.
Iconem founder Yves Ubelmann will discuss the history of the millennia-old sites presented in the exhibition, their state of conservation, and the current challenges for cataloguing these remains. Illustrated by a series of images taken in the field, the conference, led by Aurore Vaucelle, journalist at La Libre Belgique, will reveal the origins of the films and explore the tools available today for documenting and conserving sites that are in danger of disappearing.
Founded in 2013 by Yves Ubelmann, Iconem contributes to the conservation and promotion of endangered heritage, by digitalising it for further exploration and study. Across the world, his team brings together technologies that adapt to all terrains such as photogrammetry, laser scanning, and large-scale scanning via drones. The digitalisation of our heritage’s invaluable sites into 3D photorealist models is essential to their preservation and their transmission to a larger audience.
Over the past few years, Iconem has designed digital exhibitions such as Cités millénaires, at the Arab World Institute, Paris, 2018 and From Mossoul to Palmyra, A Virtual Journey through the World’s Cultural Heritage, at the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 2019, and the immersive exhibition Aleppo, a 5,000 year journey programmed at the Boghossian Foundation in 2019. These immersive experiences grant the public access to exceptional heritage sites.
Aurore Vaucelle is a Culture and Society journalist for La Libre Belgique. She launched the column La Libre Explore, which offers exclusive experiences to the readers who are taken behind the scenes and on the field.
