Credit: Ars Electronica / Robert Bauernhansl
Frederick Baker (AT/UK), Marcel Karnapke (DE)
Pitoti Prometheus is a first in VR: ancient rock art that literally comes alive at 360 degrees. It is the film with the longest production time in history. The artwork dates from 3000 BC, and the post-production was finished in AD 2016. The figures that rise from the rocks are called Pitoti, “little puppets” in the local Lombard dialect and UNESCO-protected world heritage from the Alpine valley of Valcamonica.
The story starts as a myth. The young demi-god Prometheus rebels. Encouraged by his lover Minerva, he decides to bring humanity to life: “They may be bound here by their lifelessness, but they are free and I feel their freedom!” And so Prometheus becomes the inspiration for VR. He releases humanity from its age-old chains, just like VR, which liberates viewers from the four-sided screen.
The film ends in a documentary format. The animated Pitoti celebrate their daily life: dancing, plowing and hunting—the people, the birds and the animals—until the Romans conquer.
Credits
Pitoti Prometheus is a McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge University production for the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for the 3D-Pitoti Consortium: ArcTron 3D, Archeocamuni, Bauhaus University Weimar, Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, Graz University of Technology, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, University of Cambridge, University of Nottingham.
In collaboration with and by permission of the Ministerio dei beni e delle attivita cultural e del Bell arte.
