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For more than 2,000 years, between 1500 BCE and 600 CE, the Egyptian processional oracle was one of the main points of contact between temple-based religion and the general population. In a public ceremony, a god would indicate its will or answer questions through the movements of a portable cult statue borne by priests or important members of the community.
The Egyptian Oracle Project is an interactive performance that adapts this ceremony to serve as the basis for a mixed-reality educational experience for children and young adults, using both virtual reality and live performance. The scene is set in a virtual Egyptian temple projected onto a wall. An oracle led by a high priest avatar (controlled by a live human puppeteer) is brought into the presence of a live audience, who act in the role of the Egyptian populace. Through the mediation of an actress, the audience interacts with the avatar, recreating the event.
The series of carefully focused essays in this book provides vital background to this path-breaking project in three sections. After a brief introduction to educational theatre and virtual reality, the first section describes the ancient ceremony and its development, along with cross-cultural connections. Then the development of the script and its performance in the context of mixed-reality and educational theatre are examined. The final set of essays describes the virtual temple setting in more detail and explores the wider implications of this project for virtual heritage.
Sommario
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Background to the Project and This Book
Introduction (Robyn Gillam, York University, Canada, and Jeffrey Jacobson, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, USA)
PART I The Egyptian OracleChapter 1: Historical Foundations (Robyn Gillam)
Chapter 2: Cross-Cultural Analysis (Robyn Gillam)
Chapter 3: The Virtual Temple of Horus and Its Egyptian Prototypes (Robyn Gillam)
PART II The PerformanceChapter 4: Technical Description (Jeffrey Jacobson)
Chapter 5: Mixed Reality Theater and the Oracle (Josephine Anstey and David Pape, University of Buffalo, New York, USA)
Chapter 6: Educational Purpose and Results (Jeffrey Jacobson)
PART III The TechnologyChapter 7: Puppetry and Virtual Theater (Lisa Aimee Sturz, Red Herring Puppets, Asheville, North Carolina, USA)
Chapter 8: Introduction to Virtual Heritage (Erik Champion, Curtin University, Perth, Australia)
Chapter 9: The Virtual Temple: Construction and Use (Jeffrey Jacobson)
Conclusion (Robyn Gillam and Jeffrey Jacobson)
Appendix A: A Funeral Procession in Modern Rural Egypt (Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner)
Appendix B: After-Show Questionnaire
References
Index
Info autore
Robyn Gillam is a freelance writer in the field of cultural criticism, and regularly teaches at York University in Toronto, Canada, for the Programmes in Mass Communication, Classical and Religious Studies. In the Egyptian Department of the Royal Ontario Museum she registers artefacts, and contributes to the Schools Programme and Adult Education.Jeffrey Jacobson is an Education Associate at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, USA. He is Executive Director of PublicVR,an organisation dedicated to free software and research in Virtual Reality for Cultural Heritage, Education, and Human Factors (see http://publicvr.org).
