Following on from the news that RecoVR: Mosul, a Collective Reconstruction has been shortlisted for a BIMA award we’re thrilled to learn this project has also received a nomination for ‘best use of VR’ at The Drum’s Dadi Awards!

RecoVR: Mosul is a collaboration between The Economist Media Labs, Rekrei and Visualise. It is a unique virtual reality experience designed to digitally preserve the ‘lost’ Mosul Museum for future generations.

Started as a crowdsourced initiative by Rekrei (formally Project Mosul) thousands of images of the destroyed artefacts gathered. Volunteers from around the world then began the painstaking process of digitally reconstructing the objects as 3D models through a process known as photogrammetry.

Visualise worked with The Economist to redevelop the original experience by creating a new photorealistic CG museum environment for the 3D models and developed the iOS and Android Cardboard Apps.

Tom Standage, Deputy Editor at The Economist commented “In real life it’s no longer possible to visit the Mosul museum or see these destroyed artefacts. But RecoVR:Mosul lets you experience them in virtual reality, with The Economist as your museum guide, explaining the bigger picture. This is our first venture into VR, a medium which offers huge potential for new kinds of storytelling.”  

The awards ceremony takes place on October 19th in London, let’s hope for the best!