The Future of the Past: Digital Twins and Living History (Masterclass)
Masterclass
Discover how cutting-edge technology is transforming a historic Swiss masterpiece into an immersive digital experience.
Led by Prof. Sarah Kenderdine, the Terapixel Panorama digitally restages the 1893/94 Panorama of the Battle of Murten as a 1.6-trillion-pixel digital twin–the largest digital image of a single object ever made.
Combining high-resolution imaging, immersive visualization, and humanistic research, the project pioneers the use of high-fidelity 3D scanning, 4D volumetric video, fully dynamic and spatialized soundscapes, and the first-ever use of real-time olfactory augmentation in the cultural heritage domain.
The project reinterprets a pivotal moment in Swiss history and reimagines the 19th-century panorama. The Terapixel Panorama lays the framework for the future of digitally-mediated cultural heritage experiences that are engaging, aesthetic, interactive, immersive, and multisensory.
Join us on June 24 for this invite-only masterclass—a special preview of the upcoming Terapixel Panorama exhibition launching in 2025, and winner of the 2024 SFNS Agora Award. Designed for Bay Area humanists, curators, and immersive tech innovators, the session offers exclusive access to project team members Dr. Daniel Jaquet and Tonia Ramogida.
Participants will explore how digital twins are reshaping cultural heritage preservation and interpretation, and get an early look at the cutting-edge tools and international exhibition series planned for 2025/26.
*This event is by invite only. Reach out to Sarah Burckhardt for more information or request to join on the event registration page.
More Information
Interview with researchers Sarah Kenderdine and Daniel Jaquet, the winners of the SNSF 2024 Optimus Agora Prize
Video: Digitizing a 100m Wide Panoramic Painting
Article: The making of the digital twin of the Panorama of the Battle of Murten
Speakers
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Bio
Tonia Ramogida
Researcher in Digital Humanities at the EPFL Laboratory for Experimental Museology (eM+)Tonia Ramogida is a Researcher in Digital Humanities at the EPFL Laboratory for Experimental Museology (eM+) in Lausanne, Switzerland. She works on multisensory storytelling in the form of olfactory, sonic, and narrative augmentation for the Terapixel Panorama project. Her work has produced academic papers, immersive exhibitions, and the Terapixel Panorama’s dynamic smellscape – the first-ever use of real-time olfactory augmentation in the cultural heritage domain. In addition to academic writing, Tonia works on immersive literature and creative work forms, including word/image poetry, some of which is published. She is also completing an interdisciplinary master’s degree in digital humanities and English literature at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, under the co-supervision of Sarah Kenderdine (eM+, EPFL) and Kirsten Stirling (English Department, University of Lausanne). Previously, she completed a BA Hons 1st in French literature at the University of British Columbia, for which she won the 2014 Prize of the Ambassador of Switzerland. She is interested in digital synesthesia, digital aesthetics, multisensuality, and Word & Image.
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Bio
Daniel Jaquet
Senior researcher and research project manager at the EPFL Laboratory for Experimental Museology (eM+)Daniel Jaquet is a researcher, a museum professional, and a full metal martial artist. He currently works at the Laboratory for Experimental Museology at EPFL and the University of Lausanne as a senior researcher and project manager. He received his PhD in history from the University of Geneva in 2013. Trained as a medievalist, with a background in literary studies and interest in the history of science and material culture in the early modern period, his current research moved into the 19th century and digital humanities. He taught at the University of Geneva, Lausanne, and Neuchâtel and was invited to give keynote speeches in Europe, Asia, and America. He was a visiting scholar in France (Paris, Sorbonne, and Tours, CESR) and in Germany (Berlin, Max Planck Institute for History of Science). He will be a Fulbright scholar at the University of Chicago (August 2025-May 2026). He was awarded for his skills in scientific communication (Optimus, 2024), and his short movies have reached over 5M views on YouTube.
Professor Sarah Kenderdine
Project Leader
Professor Sarah Kenderdine is a leading researcher in interactive and immersive experiences for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums. She is Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, where she directs the Laboratory for Experimental Museology (eM+). From 2017 to 2024, she served as Director and Lead Curator of EPFL Pavilions and now holds the position of Curator-at-Large. Professor Kenderdine is internationally recognized for pioneering the field of computational museology—an innovative framework that integrates machine intelligence with data curation, ontology with visualization, and public engagement with embodied, kinaesthetic interaction. Her research advances new paradigms of cultural production and experience across immersive and interactive media. She has conceived and produced over 110 exhibitions and major installations worldwide. Her forthcoming book, Deep Fakes: A Critical Lexicon of Digital Museology, will be published by Routledge in 2025.
Impressions
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Program
- 5:30pm – Doors open
- 6:00pm – Presentation from Dr. Daniel Jaquet and Tonia Ramogida (Terapixel team)
- 6:20pm – Live Demo from the Terapixel team
- 6:40pm – Q&A
- 7:10pm – Networking Reception
- 8:00pm – Doors Close
iCal / Outlook
Event start time
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San Francisco
5:30PM
