TimeScape

The Getty Villa, the original home of the J. Paul Getty Museum, is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. To help visitors contextualize where and when objects in the collection are from, the TimeScape gallery features a large interactive installation with a timeline, animated maps, and slideshows. Visitors interact with a freestanding controller positioned in the center of the gallery where they can select eleven different Mediterranean cultures and time periods spanning from the Cycladic Civilization (3200–200 B.C.) to the Collapse of the Western Roman Empire (476–565 A.D.). As selections are made, the timeline animates, the map zooms and pans into position, and informational overlays animate on the maps to show geopolitical boundaries, trade routes, and regions of influence. Slideshows feature imagery of the locations as well as objects in the collection that correspond to the selected culture.