Storytelling Ceramic Artifacts through Augmented Reality

During the creation of ceramic artifacts, presentations focus on the aesthetic rather than the cultural aspects. Questions such as “what it represents”, “what is it made of?”, “how was it made?”, “what was its original use? ” etc., are not usually addressed. CERARE project will develop a Collaboration Ecosystem specifically designed to boost the production of “smart” ceramic cultural products. Interdisciplinary teams of professionals from various creative fields will be able to work together in this platform to create outstanding products enhanced with Augmented Reality (AR). Researchers, designers, craftsmen, storytellers, authors, curators, art historians, information technology experts, advertising companies, translators and many others will cooperate and co-create, ICT powered, ceramic products that will offer a memorable experience. CERARE will be a cross region platform, presenting opportunities to ceramists to develop new products with added spiritual value, which will help them communicate the intangible cultural heritage through new interpretations, contributing to innovation and creativity in the field of culture. Through CERARE authoring platform, ceramists will be able to easily add information to their products through wizards. Using unique recognition patterns created by CERARE platform for each artifact and for each registered producer, ceramists will be able to make their products uniquely tracked by the free CERARE AR reader apps. Thus, when end-users are pointing their camera to the artifacts, they will be able to see relevant information for their origin, materials, history, stories behind, etc. This information could vary from simple presentations to educational games and interactive stories. Nine (9) demo AR ceramic products will be co-produced early in the project by ceramists and other creative SMEs and professionals directly involved in the project, while at least other 30 AR powered are expected through the project’s open pilots.