Norwich hosts visit from the Ambassador of Japan to the United Kingdom
During a recent civic visit arranged by the Sainsbury Institute for Japanese Art and Culture (SISJAC), Norwich University of the Arts welcomed Ambassador Hiroshi Suzuki to tour the university’s creative technology facilities and explore ongoing research projects.
Ambassador Suzuki visited the Immersive Visualisation and Simulation Lab (IVSL) and Virtual Production Studio at Havers Road. The Virtual Production Studio is the result of a collaboration with global electronics manufacturer Sony. It is the first educational and commercial facility of its kind in the UK to feature Sony VERONA panels for virtual production alongside a Sony VENICE camera for content capture.
Professor Kirk Woolford and Linards Bitte from the Institute for Creative Technologies presented ongoing research using Sony’s new Spatial Reality Display, which provides realistic 3D images without the use of glasses or VR headsets. They are exploring how this technology can be applied to view large-scale landscapes in 3D to better understand the effects of flooding and drought. In addition, the ambassador attended Professor Louis Nixon’s film and sculpture installation Off Earth in the IVSL, which explores human presence in space.
The visit also highlighted the university’s developing partnership with SISJAC. As part of Ambassador Suzuki’s visit, the delegation was provided with a demonstration of a new portable immersive environment that will enable students in Norfolk to explore locations around Japan without leaving the classroom. The immersive film showed 360-degree footage captured at Hase Temple as part of the Nara to Norwich project.
Professor Kirk Woolford, Director of the Institute for Creative Technologies, said:
“This was an important opportunity to join with our partners to showcase the world-class research and technological innovation taking place at Norwich, and to explore how these technologies can engage audiences in Norfolk with Japanese arts and culture.”
