Revealing the “spirit of the place”: Genius Loci, a spatial augmented reality performance based on 3D data and historical hypotheses

In the cultural heritage field, since twenty years, tools for 3D acquisition and diffusion devices of historical architecture are progressively developed. The association with traditional techniques of survey allows historians achieving a high level of knowledge of the monument. Several kinds of systems are developed to operate data and to share results of archaeological studies such as digital surveys, 3D reconstruction, photorealistic texturing, GIS, documentary database or 3D visit real-time. This paper presents especially the example of a cultural valorisation device called Genius Loci presented in 2011 in the charterhouse of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon (Gard, France). From the 3D digitization of the current church and the restitution proposal of its XVIII^th century state, three scientific and artistic teams have produced a spatial augmented reality performance based on the 3D digital model. Over the dialogue between virtual and real actors, the spirit of the place is progressively revealed. This project illustrates a new kind of heritage valorisation through an efficient collaboration between science, heritage and art.