“Gorky Tech” produced the exhibition in the Makovsky Hall at the Novosibirsk State Art Museum

Updated exhibition of paintings by Konstantin Makovsky “Minin's Appeal” opened at the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum (NSMA). ANO “Gorky Tech” played the role of producer of the exhibition, and also, together with the Nizhny Novgorod company AVM Technology, developed a section with VR installations.

“Last September, we held an open lesson with students from the Nizhny Novgorod School of Creative Industries, during which, together with the children, we developed ideas for updating the VR exhibition of a painting by Konstantin Makovsky. Based on their ideas, expanded user functionality was implemented within a VR scenario, interaction with virtual reality characters was developed, and the necessary algorithms were compiled for these purposes. The best of these developments were transferred to experts and used in the project, and the experience gained by the children will help them in implementing other VR projects. It was a pleasure to train the younger generation, who will soon work with us,” said the director of ANO Gorky Tech. Evgeny Fedoseev.

Initially, the Gorky Tech team was approached only with a proposal to help update the VR scenario of the exhibition. However, we were so fascinated by the history of the creation of the work of art that we decided to engage not only in the development of virtual reality, but also in filling the empty halls with all the necessary information.

This is how our author’s project to develop a permanent exhibition of the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum was implemented, in which Nizhny Novgorod designers helped Gorky Tech Maxim Zimin And Alexandra Kulpina. The architecture of the exhibition was carried out by Misha Maslov And Marina Artamonycheva from MISH studio, and Kuzma Minin himself spoke in the voice of an actor of the Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Drama Theater named after. M. Gorky Rustam Abdryakhimov.

To fill the exhibition with various text materials, Gorky Tech worked together with NGHM and Doctor of Historical Sciences Andrey Kuznetsov.

“Together with the museum, we selected information about Minin, Makovsky and the events of the Time of Troubles. Thanks to the production of Gorky Tech, the exhibition turned out to be logically completed. In the first hall, the museum visitor receives general information about the significance of the militia, gets acquainted with the biography of Kuzma Minin and authentic artifacts of the 17th century: household items, jewelry and more. On the common wall he can see a detailed chronology of the troubled times. And in the second hall, a VR scenario is implemented – it helps the visitor to literally immerse himself in the events of the film “Minin’s Appeal”, become a participant in raising funds for the militia and learn the stories of Nizhny Novgorod residents who lived at that time,” added Evgeny Fedoseev.

The third hall of the exhibition is dedicated to the artist Konstantin Makovsky himself and the 20-year history of painting his famous canvas.

As the authors of the project assure, only informational immersion in the context will allow the viewer to truly understand and appreciate the grandiose work of the 19th century.