An arts innovation enterprise originating from University of Queensland research will be launched tomorrow.
Ortelia Interactive Spaces will be launched by the Faculty of Arts and UniQuest Pty Limited, UQ's main commercialisation company, on Wednesday, March 25 at 12pm at the UQ Art Gallery and Museum.
Ortelia's virtual environment modelling offers art galleries, museums, and other cultural venues a unique 3D interactive marketing and visualisation tool for attracting new and larger audiences to view special exhibitions and collections in both real and on-line spaces.
Ortelia is also valuable for preservation projects, where access to historically sensitive sites and buildings can be recreated for educational and reference purposes.
Initially developed at UQ, Ortelia was structured as a business enterprise by UniQuest and subsequently advanced by the entrepreneurial efforts of the original team.
Ortelia brings together innovative research from gaming technology, drama studies, real-time content development and interactive learning to help curators and exhibition organisers explore the dynamics of cultural space.
Lead researcher Professor Joanne Tompkins from UQ's School of English, Media Studies and History said Ortelia's true-to-scale and interactive capabilities opened up a whole new world of real and virtual experiences for patrons of galleries, museums and other exhibition venues.
"For curators, directors and exhibition managers, Ortelia's online tools make it easier to plan and design collaboratively for maximum visual impact," Professor Tompkins said.
"For online visitors, Ortelia makes it possible for objects and works to be viewed in a variety of locations and contexts, including overseas installations and historic surrounds.
"They can take guided tours or explore the displays themselves, with a voice-over commentary or with an avatar companion.
"As an educational tool Ortelia is especially exciting – students can view archived versions of original exhibitions and also curate their own artworks."
Ortelia Interactive Spaces can also produce detailed scale models of venues, develop interactive 3D websites, and convert exhibitions into 3D interactive DVDs for sale.
Exhibitions that have already benefited from Ortelia’s technology include Our Way, the internationally acclaimed exhibition of art from Lockhart River in far north Queensland; the Sunshine Coast Art Prize; and Bankfoot House in the Glasshouse Mountains, which is being transformed into a museum by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council.
Professor Tompkins' research assistant Neal Harvey suggested the name “Ortelia”, after Abraham Ortelius, the 16th century Flemish geographer credited with compiling the first modern world atlas – a connection not lost on UniQuest's Managing Director, David Henderson.
"UniQuest supported the commercial development of the Ortelia technology so that its applications can help to promote Australia’s heritage and cultural assets more widely, especially to global audiences," Mr Henderson said.
"The way Ortelius went about developing his maps for the benefit of others is similar to how university innovations are commercialised today.
"Ortelius researched widely to discover the most modern, accurate and helpful versions available, then packaged them in a format that could be used by many more explorers and merchant travellers.
"His maps were also the first to acknowledge the authorship of the original cartographers, and intellectual property is a key element of all commercialisation success stories."
UniQuest's support for Ortelia’s commercial development – including Pathfinder proof-of-concept funding - was complemented by a UQ/FirstLink grant, UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award, UQ Faculty of Arts funding, and an ARC Linkage partnership with La Boite Theatre, the Cairns Civic Centre and the Major Sports Facilities Authority of the Queensland Government.
The Ortelia Interactive Spaces team currently includes Joanne Tompkins, Laz Kastanis (previously with UQ's School of Mathematics and Physics), Sean Ivermee, and Darren Pack. (high res image available)
About UQ’s Faculty of Arts
Arts at The University of Queensland aims to provide outstanding humanities and creative arts education to students, and undertake research of the highest international quality in both the traditional and new humanities. The Faculty of Arts is central to the University's role of providing a broad, liberal education to the community, an integral element of the role of universities today. Comprising four Schools, the Faculty is committed to excellence in teaching, research, research training and scholarship, service provision and community linkages in the core humanities disciplines of: English, Media Studies and Art History; History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics; Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies; and Music. The Faculty hosts the Centre for the History of European Discourses, the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, the Institute of Modern Languages, the RD Milns Antiquities Museum; and AustLit.
About UniQuest
Established by The University of Queensland in 1984, UniQuest is widely recognised as one of Australia’s largest and most successful university commercialisation groups, benchmarking in the top tier of technology transfer worldwide. The company’s charter is to identify, package and commercialise research-based technologies, expertise and facilities to the community, industry, business and government. It has created more than 60 companies, and since 2000 UniQuest and its start-ups have raised a quarter of a billion dollars to take UQ technologies to market. Sales of products using UQ technology and licensed by UniQuest are now running at $5.2 billion per year.
UniQuest now commercialises research, expertise and technologies developed at The University of Queensland, University of Wollongong, University of Technology Sydney, James Cook University and the Mater Medical Research Institute. For more information about UniQuest, please visit www.uniquest.com.au
Media inquiries: UniQuest – Leanne Wyvill (3365 4037, 0409 767 199)
