Launching this week on getty.edu is MESOPOTAMIA, an immersive digital experience that offers an intimate look at highlights from a recent exhibition at the Getty Villa.
Now anyone anywhere can explore objects up to 5,000 years old in lifelike detail—close enough, in one instance, to see the bubbles in the glaze of a lion relief that once lined Babylon’s Ishtar Gate.
The impetus for the project comes as Getty seeks to reimagine how our art collections, archives, and work might be experienced online.
With this pilot, Getty’s digital and interpretive content groups teamed up with the goal of bringing some of the exhibition’s most remarkable physical offerings to a broad digital public.
The result, MESOPOTAMIA, is a unique online experience: a self-propelled journey exploring the stories revealed by a close look at key artifacts from ancient Mesopotamia. Visitors can simply scroll to travel through the experience at their own pace, informed by a narrative that weaves together stories of the symbolic, religious, and sometimes practical meanings and purposes of these ancient works of art.
The objects were captured using photogrammetry and in some cases, additional LIDAR and structured light scanning to replicate every detail. This allows online visitors to see the details in the wedge-shaped impressions of 4,000-year-old cuneiform, or the hairline cracks in ancient tablets. “We are able to achieve 1/10 of a millimeter point accuracy of the geometry of the object, so sub-millimeter accuracy,” said Todd Swanson, head of Getty Digital Imaging. (Getty has used this same technology to study Van Gogh’s use of pigment and brushstrokes and discover Bronzino’s hidden sketches.)
To give the objects a sense of size, scale, and context, the feature situates the objects within their gallery setting, and strings the experience together using a Steadicam video capture. The outcome provides the sense of floating through the space, from one highlight to another.
MESOPOTAMIA bridges Getty's storytelling capabilities with its world-class imaging tools and digital expertise. It shows Getty’s commitment to experimenting with new, holistic ways of engaging with audiences that blend technology, design, and unique approaches to visual and verbal storytelling. Recent projects in this vein have included 12 Sunsets and Bauhaus: Building the New Artist.
We’re eager to hear what you think–tag us on social @gettymuseum to be in touch.
