ICAT Playdate — Breathing Life into Meketre’s Garden in VR

Roots of Eternity is a multisensory immersive exhibition that reimagines the 4,000-year-old garden model from the Tomb of Meketre—one of the most iconic archaeological finds from Ancient Egypt. Now divided between the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this project digitally reunites and brings the model to life through VR, projection mapping, spatial audio, scent, and animated storytelling. Drawing on research in digital cultural heritage and environmental design, the exhibition explores the everyday life and agricultural wisdom of ancient Egyptians, offering visitors an embodied experience of their intimate relationship with land, nature, and community. The project also engages with themes of digital repatriation and cultural continuity, connecting past and present through technology, narrative, and sensory design. Roots of Eternity premiered at the Cube, and was later adapted for display at the Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia.