Barcelona’s Ideal Centre d’Arts Digitals will reopen its Poblenou venue on November 6 after eight months of renovation, launching Dinosaurium, an experience that brings together large-scale projections, virtual reality, interactive installations and traditional exhibition spaces. The renovated centre covers around 2,000 square metres, about 400 more than before the work began.
Created by Layers of Reality, Dinosaurium is arranged in two parts. The first reflects how dinosaurs were commonly understood for more than a century; the second explores how scientific research and technological advances have changed that picture, including evidence that some dinosaurs had feathers. The project received scientific advice from the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont.
In the main immersive room, an 8K, 360-degree film runs for 20 minutes, presenting dinosaur fossils and the ecosystems of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Its soundtrack was composed by Rafael Plana and recorded with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. The presentation also explains how microscopic analysis of melanosomes preserved in fossils has helped researchers determine the colour of some dinosaurs’ plumage.
A separate virtual-reality area lets visitors encounter digital dinosaurs across four settings inspired by Rudolph F. Zallinger’s 1947 mural The Age of Reptiles at Yale University’s Peabody Museum. Some creatures flee when approached, while others can be touched or fed. Another VR experience uses 8K imagery to show the events before and after the asteroid impact 66 million years ago that brought about the dinosaurs’ extinction.
The centre will also feature a small interactive exhibition area with five boxes containing screens and four games. Ideal director Jordi Sellas described the project as a meeting point for art, science and technology. Ángel Galobart, who leads the Mesozoic research group at the Catalan Institute of Paleontology, said the team worked to balance the artistic approach with scientific rigour.
Since opening in 2019, Ideal has presented projects by Layers of Reality that have gone on to be shown in more than 50 cities, attracting a total of 10 million visitors, according to Sellas.
Sources: La Vanguardia.