Virtual Exhibition on the Occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Mathematical Institute SANU

Abstract

This year, the Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, headquartered in Belgrade, is marking its 75th anniversary. On that occasion, a special exhibition was organized in a virtual format, conditioned by the challenges posed to the modern world by the coronavirus pandemic. The paper will review how modern digital technologies and the principles of digitization of cultural and scientific heritage have been used to present the Mathematical Institute to the public in a digital environment. What makes this virtual "setting" so specific is that it is dedicated to a scientific institution, whose premises, laboratories, and objects have been used as exhibition space and exhibits to show the development of the very institution. The paper shows that scientific institutions are not only research performing organizations, but also guardians of the past through their archives, libraries and works of art. For example, the collection of the Mathematical Institute houses representative bronze busts and portraits in oil of famous Serbian scientists, among which stands out the portrait of Mihailo Petrović, the founder of the Serbian Mathematical School, the work by the eminent realist painter Uroš Predić from 1943. Furthermore, the paper recognizes that members of scientific institutions, in addition to their primary scientific research mission, can take on the role of private collectors, whose memorabilia can complement the archival collections of scientific institutions. Thus, academician Dragoš Cvetković, a longtime member of the Mathematical Institute, shared his correspondence with famous mathematicians Richard Bellman, Paul Erdős, and Donald Knut for the purposes of the exhibition. The paper then focuses on the technical implementation of the virtual exhibition, based on the following techniques for recording and displaying selected content in a digital environment: recording the premises of the Mathematical Institute with 360° cameras to create a virtual tour, 2D scanning of archival material to obtain digital documents, 3D scanning of exhibits to create 3D models, digitization of audio and video materials, and augmented reality technology for the purpose of connecting artefacts in physical space with the corresponding data in the digital environment. The result is a virtual exhibition containing over seventy contributions on the history of the Mathematical Institute, its mission and organization, including the ongoing research efforts and projects whose leaders are permanent and external associates. In chronological terms, the exhibition covers the framework from 1838, when the first Department of Mathematics in Serbia was established, to 2021, when the Mathematical Institute was declared an institution of national importance for the Republic of Serbia. The virtual exhibition is publicly available in two formats: as an Android and IOS mobile application, and as standard web presentation. In the concluding remarks, the advantages and disadvantages of the digital presentation of an exhibition‟s content in comparison to exhibition displays in a physical environment are emphasized. Although the virtual format cannot replace the experience of direct contact with the real object, it is concluded that such a model represents an adequate alternative in times of crisis or when the exhibition materials are not readily available.