Material Exploratory is a mixed reality installation that investigates how spatial interaction can transform the consultation of material archives. The system combines four physical samples of circular materials with a hand-tracked application for Meta Quest 3. By picking up and manipulating virtual representations associated with the samples, visitors explore their origins, production processes, industrial relationships, applications, and possible future transformations. Rather than reproducing the structure of a conventional catalogue, Material Exploratory presents each material as a narrative object situated within a spatial and temporal network. Information is organized across three interconnected dimensions (i.e. past, present, and future) corresponding respectively to material biographies and documentation, immersive narratives of current production systems, and possible applications in education and design research. The installation demonstrates a phygital interaction model in which physical material samples act as anchors for layered digital content. Interaction is performed entirely through natural hand gestures, without controllers. The mixed reality environment preserves awareness of the surrounding exhibition space while extending the physical samples with spatialized visualizations, three-dimensional objects, text, voice, and sound. Material Exploratory was developed from research conducted by Università Iuav di Venezia in collaboration with Metagate. The application has been deployed in public exhibition settings and is publicly available for Meta Quest devices.
Material Exploratory. A Hand-Tracked Mixed Reality Interface for Phygital Material Archives
Annapaola Vacanti;Raffaella Fagnoni;Pietro Costa;Martin Romeo;Marco Pizzini
2026-01-01
Abstract
Material Exploratory is a mixed reality installation that investigates how spatial interaction can transform the consultation of material archives. The system combines four physical samples of circular materials with a hand-tracked application for Meta Quest 3. By picking up and manipulating virtual representations associated with the samples, visitors explore their origins, production processes, industrial relationships, applications, and possible future transformations. Rather than reproducing the structure of a conventional catalogue, Material Exploratory presents each material as a narrative object situated within a spatial and temporal network. Information is organized across three interconnected dimensions (i.e. past, present, and future) corresponding respectively to material biographies and documentation, immersive narratives of current production systems, and possible applications in education and design research. The installation demonstrates a phygital interaction model in which physical material samples act as anchors for layered digital content. Interaction is performed entirely through natural hand gestures, without controllers. The mixed reality environment preserves awareness of the surrounding exhibition space while extending the physical samples with spatialized visualizations, three-dimensional objects, text, voice, and sound. Material Exploratory was developed from research conducted by Università Iuav di Venezia in collaboration with Metagate. The application has been deployed in public exhibition settings and is publicly available for Meta Quest devices.
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