The future of cultural heritage is being shaped through immersive technologies, collaboration, and digital innovation. At the Cultural Pasts – Urban Futures conference in Istanbul, Theodora Rontzova (KU Leuven) presented the latest developments of the IMPULSE project as part of the conference’s Digital Heritage track.
The presentation explored how virtual environments can create new opportunities for experiencing, interpreting, and reimagining cultural heritage. By combining immersive technologies with participatory approaches, the project demonstrates how digital spaces can foster deeper engagement with cultural collections and historical narratives.
A key focus of the presentation was the Athens Hackathon 2026, where researchers, students, artists, and cultural heritage professionals collaborated to develop innovative narratives around digitized cultural assets. The hackathon highlighted the power of interdisciplinary teamwork, bringing together diverse perspectives to explore new ways of connecting people with heritage.
The showcased outcomes demonstrated how immersive environments and interactive metadata can transform cultural heritage from a static resource into a dynamic, collaborative experience. Participants were able to creatively reinterpret digital collections, generating new stories and perspectives while experimenting with innovative forms of engagement and storytelling.
Through initiatives such as the Athens Hackathon, the IMPULSE project continues to investigate how immersive technologies can support the preservation, interpretation, and communication of cultural heritage, opening new possibilities for participation, creativity, and knowledge exchange across disciplines and communities.
