Interactive Digital Installation
@Pinacoteca Corrado Giaquinto, Bari
Attraverso l'Opera is a multi-sensory interactive experience designed to stimulate all senses, fostering new approaches to understanding art.
The installation aims to make art accessible and engaging, immersing visitors in an active and experiential learning journey.
Our primary goal was to make art accessible and stimulating for everyone—sparking curiosity, stimulating creativity, and enriching cultural heritage through direct and meaningful interaction with artworks. We guided visitors through an emotional and cognitive journey marked by Emotion → Discovery → Knowledge, offering a new and profound immersion into the world of art.
At the core of our vision lies the “sensitive table,” a highly interactive object that responds directly to visitors’ touch.
The concept of this table was deeply inspired by Pino Pascali’s iconic Pozzanghere (Puddles), transforming the exhibition space into an intimate “laboratory of experiences.”
The table’s covering was crafted to recall the materials and colors of the museum environment, blending seamlessly with the Pinacoteca’s atmosphere.
Interaction lies at the heart of ATTRAVERSO L’OPERA. Visitors are invited to touch the “puddles,” reflect upon them, immerse their hands to explore materials, and draw out sensations and stories from these “wells” of knowledge.
This direct contact with tactile elements and organic materials—evoking the fluidity of water—creates a suggestive dialogue between the real and the unreal, stimulating memories and emotions.
The creation of the sensor system, together with the table’s design, was a fundamental project phase aimed at ensuring a fluid and dynamic response to every visitor’s touch.
The entire environment was curated to enhance immersion: blackout curtains and poufs shaped like puddles contributed to a complete sensory experience within the intimate 5×6 meter room.
We carried out extensive research on selected artworks from the Pinacoteca Corrado Giaquinto’s collections, choosing Apulian painters such as Giuseppe De Nittis, Francesco Romano, and Raffaele Armenise, as well as masters from the Luigi Grieco collection including Morandi and De Chirico.
The visitor’s touch on the “puddles” releases drops of color in the water—a symbolic act that dynamically evolves the images.
By interacting with the sensitive table and its organic materials, they can initiate the real-time printing of high-definition postcards, preserving a tangible memory of their immersive experience and the unique “small artwork” they helped bring to life.
The visual experience is further enriched by integrated soundscapes that synchronize perfectly with the visual transformations, heightening sensory immersion and amplifying feedback with each interaction.
To further personalize the journey, visitors are offered the opportunity to capture their co-created artwork. By interacting with the sensitive table and its organic materials, they can initiate the real-time printing of high-definition postcards, preserving a tangible memory of their immersive experience and the unique “small artwork” they helped bring to life.
The journey of ATTRAVERSO L’OPERA began with a crucial Research and Development (R&D) phase, dedicated to defining the objectives and requirements of the installation.
While initial explorations considered technologies such as ComfyUI, VVVV, and VL.Player, the commitment to real-time, dynamic image generation led to the adoption of TouchDesigner by Derivative.
Building upon this foundation, the Generative AI System Development phase focused on technical execution. We defined the system for creating generative content and real-time animations, designing the underlying logic to transform artworks into engaging interactive experiences.
This system symbolically triggers the creative process through the dispersion of color drops in water—a direct homage to Pascali’s Pozzanghere—dynamically evolving images within the latent space of a customized model.
The interactive software was built by integrating TouchDesigner for real-time generative environments and audiovisual content, while the Arduino IDE (C/C++) was employed to program interaction logic and manage sensor inputs from the sensitive table. This synergy ensures that visitors’ touch directly activates the system, generating a fluid stream of real-time videos, sounds, and animations.
ATTRAVERSO L’OPERA was funded within the PNRR (Mission 1 – Digitalization, Innovation, Competitiveness, and Culture) and supported by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, under the management of the Ministry of Culture.
Its realization is the fruit of deep collaboration:
Attraverso l'Opera was inaugurated on March 17, 2025, at the Palazzo della Città metropolitana di Bari. This project, funded by PNRR (Mission 1 – Digitalization, Innovation, Competitiveness, and Culture) and managed by the Ministry of Culture with support from the European Union – NextGenerationEU, serves as a valuable resource for new educational and didactic pathways for schools of all levels, making art inclusive and innovative.
Curated by
Associazione culturale Mamamma
Artistic Direction & Project Concept
Alessandra Savio (Founder, Associazione Mamamma)
Multimedia Design
Quinjet srls
Interactive Software Development
Marcello Reina
Generative AI System Development
Roberto Santoro
Educational Paths Collaboration
Arch. Fabio Fornasari (Founder & Artistic Director, Museo Tolomeo di Bologna)
Partners
Pinacoteca Corrado Giaquinto, Bari
Funding
PNRR, Missione 1 – Digitalizzazione, innovazione, competitività e cultura, Component 3 – Cultura 4.0 (M1C3)
Unione europea - NextGenerationEU
Ministero della Cultura
