ASTRA Museum was the stage of a national premiere today, the 30th of June 2021, in terms of open air museum exhibitions with the launch of ASTRA VR. ASTRA VR is an innovative exhibition in which visitors can use 20 VR headsets that function independently. The beeswax candle maker's homestead from Sebeșu de Jos and the shepherd's homestead from Rășinari are the reference points of the exhibition. The project also comprises comic strips - stories about shepherds and wax candle making, oil processing and vinegar preparation.

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"In view of the fact that the pandemic context has favored the use of multimedia technologies, we had to bring forth this combination of technology, digitization and also palpable aspects. What can be more challenging than making a connection between the still existent archaic rural world and the technology that is ever more present in many European communities, showing how an open air museum can balance them and transmit a message of heritage accessibility towards the community", declared Ciprian Ștefan, manager of ASTRA Museum.

 

"ASTRA VR is a project that scored very well and received a financing amount of approximately 165.000 euro to enhance ethnographic heritage by using the latest multimedia technologies. The implementation of the project lasts until February 2022. I am glad to see how the results are starting to show! This is just one of the projects implemented here, in the ASTRA Museum", was the statement of Bogdan Trîmbaciu, Director of the Project Management Unit, the Ministry of Culture.

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"By means of ASTRA VR and the work of all the people who were involved in this project, each heritage object in the three homesteads included in the circuit acquires a human face, in which every visitor can find something personal. This aspect will determine the visitors to come back to the ASTRA Museum, as all the experiences generated by the project require more than a one-time attendance", said Mirela Iancu, coordonator and curator of the exhibition.

 

"The most interesting and innovative aspect of this project implemented in the ASTRA Museum is assuming a new storytelling type and a new way of communicating with the visitors. The stories are told in a personal manner and the visitors are invited to get inside these first-person narratives. They are part of a film that is surrounding them. ASTRA VR is an emotional and sentimental, as well as a straightforward story", declared architect Constantin Goagea, coordinator of the design team.

 

More than 20 specialists from the ASTRA Museum, as well as external ones (architects, film directors, graphic designers and actors) have been working on this exhibition for almost 8 months. The entire circuit will be available both in Romanian and in English. 

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