Abstract:

The aims:
The mission of teachers in today’s classroom is to create the proper conditions to determine the shift from the static transmission of knowledge to the student-centered learning. Students are now active participants in the learning process. In order to be successful and to ensure the engagement of students, teachers must use adequate methods common to the current generation of ”digital natives”. The project presented herein is an ongoing educational venture, aimed at engaging both teachers and learners in the intensive use of new learning technologies. The "Retro” exhibit as envisioned by Adina Nanu showcases the human image as the first and foremost decorative art. The purpose of the exhibit is to educate the audience visually and to introduce the viewer to the visual arts.

Methods:
The collection is organized as a virtual museum visited by means of virtual reality techniques with different levels of complexity. This approach offers an interactive experience allowing the viewer to choose both the subject to examine as well as the preferred method to examine the individual exhibits (e.g. a viewer may choose between viewing costumes on all sides, or alternatively focus on details, or even examine the layers normally hidden from view). Furthermore, this approach offers different means of presenting the information, and combines media as diverse as photography, stereoscopic images, drawings, video, interactive 3D objects, text and audio explanations. The final product will be available in several different versions both on-line and off-line, as well as a version customized to use the advanced technology available in the Laboratory of Virtual Reality of our University.

Results:
The exhibition contains approx. 150 costumes, 500 hats, accessories, jewelry, and pieces of furniture. It offers the viewers many different themes as possible itineraries to choose from. For instance, viewers may elect to follow the wedding costumes change in urban settings relative to the countryside, in the city, or across different eras. This approach emphasizes the intrinsic relationships between the educated and the popular suit, and follows the changing human image in the styles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Finally, the exhibit highlights the role of social communication, the aesthetic aspects of embroidery and lace, the evolution of hats, etc.

Conclusions:
The aesthetic analysis applied to assemblies of costumes through new media allows a more thorough and a more complete exploration of clothing from the different ages. This endeavour can be undertaken anywhere and anytime in the virtual museum, and is not restricted to the halls of the real museum.

Keywords:

e-learning, virtual reality, interactivity, immersion, 3D communication, virtual museum, interdisciplinarity, decorative arts.