Giacomo Alliata has started his PhD at EPFL in 2021, at the Laboratory of Experimental Museology under the supervision of Prof. Sarah Kenderdine. After completing his master in Digital Humanities at EPFL, he decided to continue exploring the ways immersive and interactive technologies as well as machine learning and AI could be employed to give access to large cultural collections. His research is about redefining access to large audiovisual archives through embodied experiences in immersive environments and is at the intersection of human-computer interaction, immersive environments, the functionality of the application and embodiment theories. It is part of the SNF-funded project Narratives from the Long Tail: Transforming Access to Audiovisual Archives.
Started as his master thesis, Giacomo has developed an interactive installation to explore the Claude Nicollier Video Archive, to be showcased in the Cosmos Archeology exhibition, to be held at EPFL Pavilions from September 2022. The creative aspect of developing concrete installations as well as advancing the theoretical understanding of the way the large public could engage with cultural collections in meaningful ways are therefore both important interests for him.