Pixelated Realities – We preserve the cultural heritage!

ABOUT US. MISSION AND STORY

Since 24 February 2022 Pixelated Realities NPO launches a conflict-documentary project “The Museum of UA Victory”. We aim to preserve the cultural and historical heritage significance in 3D and show the world the struggle and hope of Ukrainian people through the objects effected by the russian war against Ukraine.

The war has completely changed current reality: russians kill citizens of Ukraine, destroy cultural heritage in the center of Europe, undermine basic humanity. For us, it became a struggle for our European values, for freedom and our culture on a front line of the information war.

Three-dimensional reconstructions, whether of a devastated home or the rusting shell of a burnt-out car, have the potential to be more emotive than traditional war photography. We believe that empathy between us is important and make a step to develop amicable relationships between usual people of Ukraine and Europe by showing hardships which we now see every day in our previously peaceful country.

The project aims to collect exhibits in a metaphorical Museum of UA Victory. In our vision it is a future physical or a metaverse place where visitors will be able to see burnt vehicles, damaged sites in the cities, preserved cultural heritage and monuments protected with sand bags as realistic 3D scanned objects. With our efforts, we launch a website for Europeans to watch exhibits in augmented reality and place them in the locations with similar functions in their cities.

The models are presented on our website and the page will be promoted to Ukrainian and EU media to get documented sites to their audience. We see the project as a combination of our cultural and technological expertise with media possibilities.

Here you can see the first exhibits of the Museum.

You can become a Patron of the Museum of Ukrainian Victory by sending us donations at aliknasa@gmail.com

Also support the Museum in any form.
Contact us: pixelatedrealities@gmail.com

Digitized
buildings

City scans

Partners

Bronze miniature
reconstructions

160

Monuments and
museum exhibits

265

Trainees and
residents

IS HERITAGE A SUITCASE WITHOUT A HANDLE, OR A PLATFORM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE AND CULTURAL INDUSTRIES?

The main goal of Pixelated Realities is to improve the methods of preserving cultural heritage, including the use of 3D scanning, digital production, virtual and augmented reality. This includes the adoption of modern methods of working with material heritage in the practice of companies and institutions engaged in restoration and reconstruction; it is the creation and development of a community of artists and creative specialists, officials and customers who know how to work with digital technologies.

To achieve such an ambitious goal, it is necessary to actively train and repurpose specialists, create long-distance production chains, develop workshops and creative spaces. In order for more people to see the attractiveness and effectiveness of these technologies for cultural heritage, we must set a trend in contemporary art, popularize the results of projects among the restoration and architectural community, involve the fan community, and develop a demand for an art market.

SAYS FEDOR BOYTSOV, FOUNDER OF THE PIXELATED REALITIES NPO:

“When years and centuries will fade away, inevitably every tangible cultural heritage will seize to exist. On the contrary, the digitized copies will be on the internet for our descendants until the sun shines in the sky.

Now in Odesa and in Ukraine in general, there is an active dialogue on ways to preserve cultural heritage, both houses and small objects, such as old doors. With the war the image of the future became much more ephemeral and none can say which decisions about the historical districts we will have to take.

Replenishment in the ranks of specialists on the verge of cultural heritage and creative industries will allow cities and cultural institutions to use digitization for their projects, implement their ideas faster and more efficiently, attract new audiences.

Starting from 2016, we’ve conducted a dozen of our own trainings on photogrammetry and 3D modelling, participated as speakers in high-level public events, and amassed materials for a variety of non-formal eduction courses and trainings. Such educational initiatives have shown that it is possible to teach ordinary photographers, reporters, architects, sculptors 3D scanning and digital production”.

CULTURE IS WORTH PRESERVING!

Pixelated Realities’ digital collection of scanned objects as of 2022 accounts for more than 50 buildings, about 160 statues and figurines belonging to cultural and historical heritage and forever preserved for future generations. Through scanning, objects can be recreated in case of destruction or loss of the original. The data are suitable for scientific and design documentation for restoration.

Since 2016, we have worked on projects together with more than 60 partners in different cities of Ukraine and the world. We have conducted four medium-term training programs, including Very Digital Residencies. Over the past years, we have been teaching about 265 people in the basics of digital production and photogrammetry.

Geography of projects: Ukraine, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Philippines, India, Turkey, Latvia, Poland.

Together with Dvor-Scena, NGO INTERESTED, NGO FUND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY ODESA Work with courtyards in Odesa (cultural development, preservation of heritage, transformation of courtyards into cultural spaces) The School of Neighborhood Culture worked with a network of 10 yards, their audience is 2500 people. The festival of Odesa courtyards promoted love for culture and good neighborliness and had 4500 visitors. The locations of the festival were 20 yards from all over the city. The participants and partners of the festival were 27 public organizations.

6 YEARS OF CULTURAL AND DIGITAL PROJECTS

PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY THE UKRAINIAN CULTURAL FOUNDATION:

2020 As an applicant, we successfully implemented the project “Very Digital Residence – Residences in Digital Technologies and Media in Odesa and Kharkiv”. Developed and launched together with partner Gwara Media 2 residences in digital production and media art, which attracted 25 artists, sculptors, architects and 3D artists to rethink the local cultural heritage. As a result of the project, 15 art objects were created in Odesa and 4 group media art installations in Kharkiv. The communication coverage of the project amounted to more than half a million people.

The project was included in the list of nominees for the UCF Digital Project of the Year 2020 Award.

2020 As a partner – the project “Pocket Country”, initiated by the Skeiron team – large-scale 3D digitization of architectural and cultural heritage objects of Ukraine together with specialists from Navigation Geodetic Center and AERO3D. We digitized 5 objects in Odesa and adapted them to the augmented reality application. You can buy postcards from Odesa in our store.

2020 As a partner – The project “Digitization of cultural heritage monuments of the city of Kropyvnytskyi Step 2.0” was implemented by the Board of Urban Planning and Architecture of the City Council of Kropyvnytskyi. We completed scanning work, author’s supervision and contractor involvement to make the Library’s model of polymer bronze with an inclusive design at 1:72 scale.

2020 As a partner – the Project “School of Neighborhood Culture in Odesa” was implemented by the NGO “Odesa City Development Fund”. We developed a training program for yard leaders, conducted an online training course for 25 participants.

2020 “Culture in times of crisis: institutional support 2020” from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. We expanded the team, hired residents for internships, scanned the Odesa center, launched the Digital Prototyping Laboratory, developed a souvenir shop and product prototypes based on the work of residents, conducted 3 free webinars on 3D modeling.

2018 For the museum”Kyiv Fortress” acted as a contractor to digitize part of the collection and set the results for online viewing.

Scan of Marazli summer residence in Odesa

SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENTED PROJECTS WITH THE SUPPORT OF VARIOUS PARTNERS:

Project: The exhibition “Do cities dream of digital twins” and the seminar “Digital twin cities: world experience and prospects in Ukraine” in Odesa allowed visitors to see interactive 3D maps, learn about Digital Twins and Smart Cities, technologies that made them possible and unusual areas of their use. In particular, a prototype of the digital twin of the Odesa quarter was created for the project on the basis of the Cesium platform. The exhibition was created in collaboration between NGO “Pixelate Reality” and experts of Virtual city systems GMBH (Berlin, Germany) with the support of cf Bavarian House Odesa and Goethe Institute in Ukraine.

Project: Youtubesusid. Help with the organization of video production and the communication strategy of the YouTube series “Only neighbors will survive.” The project was supported by USAID, August 2020 – January 2021.

Project: Neighborhood Culture School and Odesa Yards Festival. Implementation – May-November 2019. The project was supported by USAID (UCBI II) and the Forum for Civil Peace Service (forum ZFD). The latter were also co-organizers of the project. Our team performed the tasks of general coordination of the project, creation of a training program for yard activists, organization of the festival, communication of the project. Representatives of 10 yards from all over the city gained new skills and acquaintances, completed a course on the history and architecture of the city, urbanism, botany, project management and non-conflict communication. They implemented projects in their yards thanks to subgrants from donors and held the Festival of Odesa Courtyards.

Project: “Odesa to the touch” – bronze miniatures of famous sights of Odesa for blind people. September 2017 – December 2019. The project was supported within the framework of the Public Budget of Odesa. The project carried out contract work – 3D scanning of 6 historical buildings, 3D modeling for digital production and author’s supervision of the production and installation of sculptures in the city. The uniqueness of the project is that these are the first miniatures made as an exact copy of the object, and not as a work of a sculptor with works. The focus group of the blind in Odesa, who were the authors of the project, highly appreciated the quality of the layouts and the accuracy of the details by touch. The sculptures are made of anti-vandal material by the method of cold casting of bronze (bronze powder with polymer).

Project: 2018 Kyiv dialogue, project Night of Museums in the house of Blieschunov. We scanned part of the exhibition and created miniatures in augmented reality, which could be viewed in the mobile application at exhibition points in remote areas of the city.

Our team consists of six people. We provide ourselves with work on professional activities and work on the implementation of digital cultural projects in the format of a social agency. In our activities, we reveal the values of the partner and the cultural heritage that he cares about.