A Realidade Virtual Num Museu de Artes Plásticas

The technology associated with Virtual Reality has, since its inception, been closely linked to various areas such as art and has, at the same time, found multiple spaces for experimentation and use, such as museums. These institutions of memory, study, preservation and disclosure of the material and immaterial heritage have, by the way, integrated the various information and communication technologies in their documentation, research and exhibition practices as allies in the search for a more open and involving existence. A posture that clearly moves away from the increasingly outdated idea that the museum is a closed, watertight space that only stores artefacts of the most diverse nature. The recognition and valorisation of the potential of interaction between the visitor and the information and communication technologies have gained new forms and roles expressed in an increasing number of research projects and museographic experiences. Many of these projects find precisely in art a fruitful area for the development of experimental prototypes of applications and experiences that bring together Virtual Reality, diverse material and immaterial artistic heritage, the visitor's experience, museums as spaces of memory and knowledge, also, creativity. This article presents the results of an investigation that designed, prototyped and evaluated a Virtual Reality experience about the artist Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso in collaboration with the Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso Municipal Museum in Amarante. The research carried out including the construction of a theoretical corpus formed by structuring concepts in the area of Virtual Reality, as part of the universe of Extended Realities; a detailed look at the cycle of the museum experience, also, by a careful collection of existing projects in the area under study; the development and evaluation of a high-fidelity prototype. The study also highlighted challenges and opportunities that this type of immersive reality may bring as diluting physical and geographical barriers experienced by its users.