tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29931188849539066082024-03-14T03:44:45.181-07:00Pompeii: material, virtual, imaginaryValeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-16835028241812744902015-03-24T09:38:00.002-07:002015-03-27T05:03:41.183-07:00A clash of sources: hypotheses on the digital unification of the ekkleasiasterion<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
[<a href="http://kosmopoietes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/where-are-you-from-fragments-of.html" target="_blank">Part one</a>]</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7qv0Bu6H6SzekJHWHk7E81xycfPhoLo0XDpheFT8V6b5HiOxw13bCLXVspfQT8zv-EgyboAfl-MZC-nvC4ccJ2NIEIakZNIBE7BooCC298PxjUZh7-oTtvDnBMv-H2iTXn2s-vCOChca/s1600/ekkl_1_62Cut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7qv0Bu6H6SzekJHWHk7E81xycfPhoLo0XDpheFT8V6b5HiOxw13bCLXVspfQT8zv-EgyboAfl-MZC-nvC4ccJ2NIEIakZNIBE7BooCC298PxjUZh7-oTtvDnBMv-H2iTXn2s-vCOChca/s1600/ekkl_1_62Cut.jpg" height="182" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fragment 1.62: Landscape with ceremony in honor<br />
of Osiris. Archaeological Museum of Naples</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
Italian scholar Olga Elia already highlighted in 1941 that the visual documentation of the ekklesiasterion and the frescoes in the museum collection are not completely consistent. It may be due to the habit of drawing the documentation after the frescoes had already been removed (which makes the documentation of the time sound certainly not less precious but… well… a tiny bit less reliable). So Elia, and more recently current director of the Archaeological Museum of Naples Valeria Sanpaolo (1992), suggest that a better source, if we want to try an unification, are paradoxically, the verbal accounts compiled during the excavation.</div>
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<div class="p1">
This is the reason why both scholars agree that fragment 1.62 [Landscape with ceremony in honor of Osiris] should be placed in the left side of the south wall (as the <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/pompeianarumant01fiorgoog" target="_blank">Pompeianarum antiquitatum historia </a></i>records) and not at the right side of the west wall as the engravings show. They supported this assumption mainly with the presence of a framing column on the right edge of the fragment. Well, if we assume that the pattern is correct, having a dividing fake column on the right of the scene wouldn’t be much useful if the image was already on the right side, would it? So, I definitely agree with Elia and Sanpaolo. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyxXYNdecQ-YbX3DxKI0TKwiGQYSE_gQ1tZEzQs_yJd1XQgrSgFK8I77xEzBeDHz_UkA54lB60_2SVogJDqcD53bfj5Xg-_y3_-AQp5UzI7xwzNSjS8ukeLpxxctXQ0T0Dsrno5x6kmYZ/s1600/ekkl_1_67Cut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyxXYNdecQ-YbX3DxKI0TKwiGQYSE_gQ1tZEzQs_yJd1XQgrSgFK8I77xEzBeDHz_UkA54lB60_2SVogJDqcD53bfj5Xg-_y3_-AQp5UzI7xwzNSjS8ukeLpxxctXQ0T0Dsrno5x6kmYZ/s1600/ekkl_1_67Cut.jpg" height="180" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="p1">
Fragment 1.67: Landscape with sacred door </div>
<div class="p1">
and velum.<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 1.38;">Archaeological Museum of Naples</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
Moreover, if fragment 1.62 were on the right side of the west wall, it would be asymmetrical with fragment 1.66 [Sacred fence with temples, statues, and square with trees, seen through an architectural scene.], that, all sources agree, was located on the left side of the west wall. And Romans tended to be pretty fond of symmetry.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
In addition, Elia suggested that the right side of the west wall was actually occupied by fragment 1.67 [Landscape with sacred door and velum.]. The <i>Landscape with sacred door and velum. </i>does not even appear in the engravings but the piece had been explicitly recorded as “from the Temple of Isis” when it was catalogued. Homogeneity of style, colour and dimensions support this theory and fragment 1.67 is officially exhibited in the museum as part of the ekklesiasterion in the museum collection. </div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
This, by the way, means that what Chiantarelli drew in the right side of the west wall might be pretty much completely made up (yeah, welcome to Pompeii…). </div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTbICOZEmOxSPMKV8b_zOCu6p3tC_slSDOIIBoTFxOtyoGnNCH5-hdBq5zrM1IFJtg76H4Y-4gOG9hbEEeWg2e2XaLqsslfgEG7ja_fY33htyqf0GRBSG7lvF2rx1WCLg_rhyphenhyphenSpJDVtAkI/s1600/ekkl_long_wallED2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTbICOZEmOxSPMKV8b_zOCu6p3tC_slSDOIIBoTFxOtyoGnNCH5-hdBq5zrM1IFJtg76H4Y-4gOG9hbEEeWg2e2XaLqsslfgEG7ja_fY33htyqf0GRBSG7lvF2rx1WCLg_rhyphenhyphenSpJDVtAkI/s1600/ekkl_long_wallED2.jpg" height="145" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Documentation of the west wall by Chiantarelli</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6GgSF24QXcXu8jb4_d5-lVeelh3S21mZwnTgq8FTonKq_UBaFzNV0IDwLgkQ0BHV5o4ueEqpAxQm_zrDy8Yyn9kdbOMGi8xmu1gibUlYW6nZf1GlYQYMGjFk4ErlIAdMd9BQwxIUdtlw7/s1600/ekkl_west_wall_sanpaolo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6GgSF24QXcXu8jb4_d5-lVeelh3S21mZwnTgq8FTonKq_UBaFzNV0IDwLgkQ0BHV5o4ueEqpAxQm_zrDy8Yyn9kdbOMGi8xmu1gibUlYW6nZf1GlYQYMGjFk4ErlIAdMd9BQwxIUdtlw7/s1600/ekkl_west_wall_sanpaolo.jpg" height="145" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">superimposition of pictures of the extant fragments of frescoes on Chiantarelli's documentation,<br />
according to Elia (1941) and Sanpaolo's (1992) reading.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span style="line-height: 1.38;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="line-height: 1.38;">We are not done yet! Elia also claims that the south and north walls could have been accidentally inverted in the visual documentation. She based her theory on the position of the mythological scenes. According to modern western conventions, stories are read from left to right. This would make the frescoes representing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_%28mythology%29" target="_blank">the myth of Io</a> awkwardly positioned as the story ends on the left (south wall) and begins on the right (north wall). However, Sanpaolo (1992) disagrees, and remarks that there is no evidence in Pompeian frescoes to support such a constraining convention. In fact, scenes depicted on Pompeian walls (especially in a series composed by separated scenes) appear to follow a more symbolic than realistic or linear logic.</span><span style="line-height: 1.38;"> </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
These are the pieces of the puzzle: three walls, a visual record, a written one, the work of two scholars, many frescoes fragments, different theories and some disagreement. How to express that in linked data? And how to do it in the Generic Viewer?</div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br />
</span>[One part more to come...]</div>
</div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-4747080663230590992015-03-22T15:17:00.000-07:002015-03-27T04:58:36.767-07:00Where are you from?: fragments of frescoes and their spatial context<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoIaNaBRbernh2GY3wOhrNtOfqY8AGiJfiI1PnwFeXmhCVB3xlRg0R52DagJhiOCOgyq2DlTI_Z9cEJdmr5hoMJ-dkZLyH3ytO_XNK2g938BOqjtCO3irb9bKPEt3gRK9sAv7c4nWwc645/s1600/porticus01_cornerD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoIaNaBRbernh2GY3wOhrNtOfqY8AGiJfiI1PnwFeXmhCVB3xlRg0R52DagJhiOCOgyq2DlTI_Z9cEJdmr5hoMJ-dkZLyH3ytO_XNK2g938BOqjtCO3irb9bKPEt3gRK9sAv7c4nWwc645/s1600/porticus01_cornerD.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Archaeological Museum of Naples,<br />
Fragments from the porticus of the Iseum.<br />
The display has no relationships with the <br />
original position in the building.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="line-height: 1.38;">My idea to experiment with the Generic Viewer comes from two main things that caught my attention. The first one is that, according to its presentation, the Generic Viewer was meant to support projects like </span><a href="http://www.spatialhumanities.de/ibr/startseite.html" style="line-height: 1.38;"><span class="s1">IBR</span></a><span style="line-height: 1.38;"> in which inscriptions are considered not just as text, but as artefacts, and, more specifically, artefacts thought to be experienced in a particular space, interacting with other features and with the human behaviour in that space. </span><br />
<div class="p1">
The second one, is the potential use of the Generic Viewer not only as a digital model of the real space, but also as a virtual environment where is possible to test different hypotheses about the original position of some decorative features based on geometry, scholarly expertise, and visibility analysis.</div>
</div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-968c0f71-379f-7b89-6a4f-1ac0e31bbf9c" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
Both things, for different reasons that I’m going to explain, reminded me of some of the issues I had encountered studying the artefacts found at the Iseum, and made me wonder if the Generic Viewer was really generic enough that its functions, although developed for epigraphists, could be extended to the study of ancient Pompeian frescoes. </div>
<div class="p1">
Moreover, the semantic annotations allowed by the Generic Viewer give me the opportunity to model the relationship between the artefacts, the architectural environment and their documentation all in RDF linked data (using, among others, a few elements of my ontology).</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br />
</span>Of course, it would be too ambitious to show the results for the entire Iseum, so I had to pick a specific area. The most interesting one, in this respect, seems to be the ekklesiasterion (and that is the reason why it's the space we have prepared and textured in the Generic Viewer). Although there are other spaces of the Iseum that are rich in surviving artefacts and related documentation (e.g. the porticus), the ekklesiasterion is especially complex. Actually, sometimes 'complex' gets very close to 'pretty bizarre', even for Pompeian standards, bet let me introduce this story of artists, archaeologists, kings, engineers and scholars.</div>
</div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXEVp9mn7rgbjr3bVs8eGPk3p9aFGmDmE4HLO-9F8EfGjoi_Z9XS3u37Z6srKJCNS4hWYW-WY3OIkR0taHXhcFuxc0ZYYqRblapyjJkJTNO_mvp_m5FT829Be1J_EyA-an_Hh8qZURNBR/s1600/Palace_of_Portici,_c_1745.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXEVp9mn7rgbjr3bVs8eGPk3p9aFGmDmE4HLO-9F8EfGjoi_Z9XS3u37Z6srKJCNS4hWYW-WY3OIkR0taHXhcFuxc0ZYYqRblapyjJkJTNO_mvp_m5FT829Be1J_EyA-an_Hh8qZURNBR/s1600/Palace_of_Portici,_c_1745.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Palace of Portici in 1745<br />
From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Portici" target="_blank">wikipedia</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
The frescoes on the walls of the ekkleasiasterion, as for many other Pompeian buildings, were almost intact when uncovered. Being the Iseum one of the first buildings dug up (1764), it was still very common, at the time, to remove the most eye catching bits of the frescoes (usually the figurative ones) and move them to the Palace of Portici. Everything else was just left in place, if not explicitly destroyed, to enhance the value of the king’s collection or because believed not worthy. Another issue was that the pieces of frescoes stripped off were transported via narrow tunnels dug into the excavation site, so there was no practical means, at the time, to transport anything too big.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Considering what happened (and what is still happening) to the frescoes that have been left in place, we should be happy that some of them have been removed and can now be seen and studied in in the Museum of Naples (or elsewhere). However, we now have only fragments, singularly framed as independent pieces of art and exhibited outside their spatial context (the building) and regardless the relationship with the other parts of the decorative pattern. </div>
<div class="p1">
Something that sounded quite close to what the IBR project complained about when discussing inscriptions.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
In a 3D model (or in a point cloud generated by a 3D model and imported into the Generic Viewer, to be precise) it is possible to attempt one or more virtual unifications, placing the fragments (visually or just on an informative level) were they might have used to be.</div>
<span style="line-height: 1.38;">But, first of all: how can we place the fragments in their original position reliably? They are no more in situ, but they have been documented at the time. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGCFa8wRhvd95mM7X0pUBttXeKr9r64-frg9YVKnfaLvd95fzEujg0b2P8lBfbq8BnhYaT1Fwh5cT45GYdVoO14js43PAcOs9JKcwX3wRGbwSiwAOnmKweAXKiuPpGulPrqqMJxzI3ZCKm/s1600/ekkl_parete_nord.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGCFa8wRhvd95mM7X0pUBttXeKr9r64-frg9YVKnfaLvd95fzEujg0b2P8lBfbq8BnhYaT1Fwh5cT45GYdVoO14js43PAcOs9JKcwX3wRGbwSiwAOnmKweAXKiuPpGulPrqqMJxzI3ZCKm/s1600/ekkl_parete_nord.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">documentation of the north wall of the ekklesiasterion<br />
by Giovanni Morghen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXMezvyl8fFJtxxN5jP_W5p2KUIOmV5jq1jn2bj4bVAvIZfTP3Yd96I3t-2dsJ-gc2I_QbPFa7ABtyfVBf-QQsQNPolnsBJrg8OI5K0i6pCK8Uj2nEU_UHRj5UIu7NH3Dyly6ZGxdBVWTx/s1600/south_wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXMezvyl8fFJtxxN5jP_W5p2KUIOmV5jq1jn2bj4bVAvIZfTP3Yd96I3t-2dsJ-gc2I_QbPFa7ABtyfVBf-QQsQNPolnsBJrg8OI5K0i6pCK8Uj2nEU_UHRj5UIu7NH3Dyly6ZGxdBVWTx/s1600/south_wall.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">documentation of the south wall of the ekklesiasterion<br />by Giuseppe Chiantarelli<span style="line-height: 1.38;"> </span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8c66nELOfRlugOEzLo5JeHEOZp3C656Z62QYgUB_lwuURx5VnwekSA21C3YALE9pz2xz3canM8m1I15BOp0KTJURlUExp70m8UW-uzsRi0BC02NlOVqE34NeCmt8cna37NLea85iZ28ib/s1600/ekkl_long_wallED2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8c66nELOfRlugOEzLo5JeHEOZp3C656Z62QYgUB_lwuURx5VnwekSA21C3YALE9pz2xz3canM8m1I15BOp0KTJURlUExp70m8UW-uzsRi0BC02NlOVqE34NeCmt8cna37NLea85iZ28ib/s1600/ekkl_long_wallED2.jpg" height="116" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">documentation of the west wall of the ekklesiasterion<br />by Giuseppe Chiantarelli</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
After being harshly criticised by classicists at the time for destroying one of the most valuable source of knowledge about the past, the king of Naples decided to hire someone from the academia of fine arts to document the state of the frescoes before removing parts of them. The documentation of the ekklesiasterion was carried out by Giovanni Morghen (north wall) and Giuseppe Chiantarelli (west and south walls). </div>
<div class="p1">
At the beginning of my work on Pompeii, some years ago, I thought that documentation was a very good starting point for digital visualisation; that having a professional documentation was very close to know how things were at the time. Which is true, to a certain extent. But, besides knowing of course that every human representation is intrinsically subjective, I didn't take into account that Pompeii has always an extra layer of complication (if not sheer surrealism…).</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Morghen and Chiantarelli's documentation is extremely precious. It tells us about the decorative pattern around the fragments that survived. Shows us the beautiful fake architectural features that Esher would have loved so much. Reveals fascinating illusory doors leading to even more secret rooms.</div>
<div class="p1">
But…</div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 1.38;">[<a href="http://kosmopoietes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/a-clash-of-sources-hypotheses-on.html" target="_blank">part two</a>]</span><span style="line-height: 1.38;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;"> </span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-37858735280006311332015-03-02T03:00:00.002-08:002015-03-02T03:00:43.490-08:00Isis rises from the clouds: converting 3D meshes into point clouds<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQgl-OO_IlZh4JKEY-Am7pcdkaKed3Vy1iPjhr9sUpu5tSNXAlTwEE_YL_anBxw0EYXsU8DyNMu-ZLMytYnYKhubJWyhopGw6cA8HFhepCi6cPqZ6fCWqkv2b8_hJMbakC2TW6799Upt48/s1600/Screenshot+(102).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQgl-OO_IlZh4JKEY-Am7pcdkaKed3Vy1iPjhr9sUpu5tSNXAlTwEE_YL_anBxw0EYXsU8DyNMu-ZLMytYnYKhubJWyhopGw6cA8HFhepCi6cPqZ6fCWqkv2b8_hJMbakC2TW6799Upt48/s1600/Screenshot+(102).png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sneak peek of my model of the Iseum in 3DSMax.<br />
Untextured</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
As the <a href="http://www.spatialhumanities.de/en/ibr/technology/genericviewer.html" target="_blank">Generic Viewer</a> only accepts point clouds as inputs, we had to find a way to convert my 3D model of the Iseum into a point cloud.</div>
<div class="p1">
I know. The idea would make many modellers (including me) cringe. And I can already hear the puzzled voice of my colleagues asking “just WHY?”. All the painstaking work I did on labelling the different elements would be lost in the process. All the layers would probably be smashed together. And what would happen to the details?</div>
<div class="p1">
I am not going to ignore this issue, just to leave it aside for the moment. We took some time just to make experiments. It may not lead anywhere. It may not be useful to my research. The process of converting a 3D mesh into a point cloud may involve such a loss of information that it is unreasonable to pursue it. But we just wanted to find out.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
How do you do that?</div>
<div class="p1">
Here you can see the difference between people coming from a humanities or technology background. I started being fascinated by the idea of making a digital imaging of a virtual space. Is that possible? Can you do a photogrammetry of a space that is already digital? While I was pondering these slightly surreal thoughts, and getting lost in their philosophical implications, Alexandra had already found an option in Meshlab that transforms meshes into point clouds. As simple as that.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxD6E3s6tfwLT4YPK7Nr-80jiv6W9uQKyXx15U1kYHJbh_bFD8MRbZjvCrARnCYjcW8f9KgoxUjHgM785AkkmVXLbZdmHm_qf9RVitIkBGcwnlFp96okHM1vFLI664iLRQRu-Ihf3HISKE/s1600/Screenshot+(100).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxD6E3s6tfwLT4YPK7Nr-80jiv6W9uQKyXx15U1kYHJbh_bFD8MRbZjvCrARnCYjcW8f9KgoxUjHgM785AkkmVXLbZdmHm_qf9RVitIkBGcwnlFp96okHM1vFLI664iLRQRu-Ihf3HISKE/s1600/Screenshot+(100).png" height="178" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Iseum as point cloud in the GV. The software generated<br />
the map and calculated the areas.<br />
The pink dots are the viewpoints</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
So we exported the Iseum in collada (.dae) from 3DSMax (the only Max exporting format that can be opened in Meshlab), we imported it into Meshlab and generated a point cloud.</div>
<div class="p1">
We tried out different point densities, and then we settled for 5 millions. And there it was, my temple as a cloud!</div>
<div class="p1">
I was happy to see that the conversion had worked less problematically than I was expecting. But, at the same time, it can’t be ignored that, even in a quite simple and regular untextured model like mine, everything looked pretty much simplified. The question if the benefits of the semantic annotations and the spatial calculations are worth the information loss is still open.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
So, we managed to overcome the first major issue: we had a point cloud version of the virtual space. But, still, it was not suitable for the GV because in a CAD model there are not fixed viewpoints. </div>
<div class="p1">
We thought that the key was to keep treating the virtual space as a real one. And do, virtually, all the things we would do in a material space to make the GV work. So, we placed some hypothetical view points in the model and recorded the coordinates in the 3D space. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkNKM-qgU7qAMj3VS267a5rfamUWg5aUDj4ZGVumPElYFqk8Sdhp2voS0EavTm_GlyRTksI9l4L_GRspvvP9agR7x8UTJ978w9IRTrI1e_g_82MZdHLYDz4QOirRuPiyB5ZOiMpWLVt3J/s1600/screenshotsGV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkNKM-qgU7qAMj3VS267a5rfamUWg5aUDj4ZGVumPElYFqk8Sdhp2voS0EavTm_GlyRTksI9l4L_GRspvvP9agR7x8UTJ978w9IRTrI1e_g_82MZdHLYDz4QOirRuPiyB5ZOiMpWLVt3J/s1600/screenshotsGV.jpg" height="400" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">screenshots of the virtual panorama<br />in the texturised ekklesiasterion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Again, I was glad for the success of the experiment. It gives a certain pleasure to push the boundaries of digital tools and software, and to see how much you can stretch them and make them do things they were never supposed to. On the other hand, I was losing information again. I had just turned a virtual space that is entirely explorable, 360 degrees, into a space whose view is constrained by the position of viewpoints.</div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
We missed one last element to simulate the imaging of a material space in the GV: photographic panoramas, taken from the positions of our artificial viewpoints to texture the point cloud.</div>
<div class="p1">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Again, we tried to think of the digital space as it was a real one. So I placed a (virtual) camera at the same coordinates of one of our viewpoints, and took sequential pictures of the space, with at least a 40% overlap (so, in the end, my idea of a photogrammetry of a virtual space wasn’t <i>that </i>crazy…).</div>
<div class="p1">
To be fair, our viewpoints weren’t very strategically placed. But, luckily, I thought of putting at least one in a sensible place: the ekklesiasterion. The chronological layer of my model I’m working on (the hypothetical reconstruction of the Iseum as it might have looked like before 79) is meant to be untextured.</div>
<div class="p1">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
I could have left it untextured in our experiments with the GV as well, and just render the camera view of the elements in the not-too-bad 3DSMax solid colour palette (which is a feast of purple, lime green and turquoise, not too dissimilar from my summer wardrobe).</div>
<div class="p1">
However, I thought that the best use I could make of the GV and its feature was to use it to express the complex relationships between the walls of the ekklesiasterion, the frescoes that have been found there and are now exhibited in the Museum of Naples, and the documentation of those frescoes that have been produced at the time of the excavations.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
So, I textured (quite quickly, I’m afraid) the north, west and south wall of the ekklesiasterion with a digital copy of the graphic documentation of the walls commissioned at the time by the Borbons. On the black and white engravings (a not-good-enough picture from a copy of Elia's book) I have superimposed colour pictures of the fragments now exhibited in Naples (if you think that was a straightforward task, you have never had anything to do with Pompeian documentations…).</div>
<div class="p1">
I didn’t have an equivalent texture for the east wall (the entrance one, with the arches). I could have left it untextured but, just to simulate a minimum of homogeneity, I applied a quick black and white masonry texture to it. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5K-IXAtBorjXi8VKcjBdH4PnBUXbVabOsQV0fl2jTe0C1aEaxRxTPYgkvtY_xFSTabfMw6QaBCme2dP0Y7S-8u5i6f-gyC6mgZwmhFTMliCHwbCLPo4RLX0fvY3ZBIID97jnDv_qQxoc/s1600/Screenshot+(101).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5K-IXAtBorjXi8VKcjBdH4PnBUXbVabOsQV0fl2jTe0C1aEaxRxTPYgkvtY_xFSTabfMw6QaBCme2dP0Y7S-8u5i6f-gyC6mgZwmhFTMliCHwbCLPo4RLX0fvY3ZBIID97jnDv_qQxoc/s1600/Screenshot+(101).png" height="178" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ekklesiasterion in the GV, (almost) ready to be annotated</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
I froze the camera at the exact coordinates we had given the GV for that viewpoint, and moved the target of the camera along the walls, capturing the panorama, as I was doing a photogrammetry. Move the target. Render the camera view. Print the screen. Repeat.</div>
<div class="p2">
I thought of removing the roof from the model of the ekklesiasterion, to handle better the movements along the walls, and I twitched the light a little bit to get a better illumination.</div>
<div class="p1">
Actually, I was a bit worried about the light. My model is not finished yet, so I haven’t spent much time working on a well balanced and realistic lighting. I just put some standard 3DSMax omnilights where I need them when I’m modelling. I wondered if the artificiality and inconsistency of lights in the renderings we used to build the panorama might bother the system. But I was over worrying and the system was definitely smarter than I thought.</div>
<br />
<div class="p3">
So, while Alexandra is still working on the last details, it seems that my Iseum is ready to be annotated in the Generic Viewer</div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-23950052269106388862015-02-02T06:15:00.000-08:002015-02-27T06:25:07.802-08:00Letters from the Gamma Room: visiting the i3Mainz<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2F25bzzpKu9Cp01m2tsQ9-sZWDKMxfTwi44_0tn51UBPvsW7Ejh845apG9ia4igAuBhtqyuSkm8QaoVm0BQVXWzT0oVYhE0wQz8hj8_lYo5TdSJZhgp93U3PCM0AqN1GiofwcQU14mhV9/s1600/3d-visualisierung_kaufhaus_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2F25bzzpKu9Cp01m2tsQ9-sZWDKMxfTwi44_0tn51UBPvsW7Ejh845apG9ia4igAuBhtqyuSkm8QaoVm0BQVXWzT0oVYhE0wQz8hj8_lYo5TdSJZhgp93U3PCM0AqN1GiofwcQU14mhV9/s1600/3d-visualisierung_kaufhaus_01.jpg" height="188" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of historic Mainz from Mainz-Kastel;<br />
woodcut by Franz Behem, 1565 (image: <a href="http://www.mainz.de/WGAPublisher/online/html/default/mkuz-5t3j7v.en.html" target="_blank">Mainz City Archive</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
I am spending some weeks in Mainz, Germany, at the <a href="http://i3mainz.hs-mainz.de/en"><span class="s1">i3Mainz</span></a>, in the <a href="https://www.hs-mainz.de/startpage/index.html"><span class="s1">University of Applied Science</span></a>.</div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
There are many projects going on there, led by different groups and institutions. It would take much longer than a couple of months to explore them all (so I had to restrain my curiosity as much as my nature allows). Mainly, I am here to experiment a bit with a tool they have developed in the last couple years, the <b>Generic Viewer</b> (GV).</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7000007629395px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
I’m not going to explain in detail how the GV works. It has been presented in various venues (including the past CAA in Paris and the DH conference in Lausanne). If you want to know more about it, you can read the <a href="http://www.spatialhumanities.de/en/ibr/technology/genericviewer.html"><span class="s1">website</span></a>.</div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
What I’m going to discuss here, are the relationships between the GV and my own research, and their possible interactions. </div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The GV allows to annotate semantically specific elements within a virtual 3D space, derived from laser scanner point clouds, and textured with panoramic photographs. You can navigate the space (although through controlled viewpoints), and you can draw geometry (polygons) around a specific feature (a painting, a statue, anything that is relevant) to select and identify it. The selected portion of virtual space automatically receives a URI. Then, it is possible to:</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
- extract and calculate geometric information about the elements in it,</div>
<div class="p1">
- attach information to it via linked data. </div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
You can write the triples yourself, and add them directly in the triplestore; or you can use a little interface that makes RDF triples look much like statements in English language.</div>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEc-PXw14BpIs87GW5x-KZy5uf13zARIjE9dMXFGXaGgf8l71z1infq0IETq_OKG3TlJK9x0w0rk4ECm_EVmL_3i9b_L9equHX9l33qVZZTKQrDLmKT6oolnVOowduDFMW72-yTqb4W4tp/s1600/IBR_inscriptions_spatial_humanities_Generic_Viewer_969f03201e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEc-PXw14BpIs87GW5x-KZy5uf13zARIjE9dMXFGXaGgf8l71z1infq0IETq_OKG3TlJK9x0w0rk4ECm_EVmL_3i9b_L9equHX9l33qVZZTKQrDLmKT6oolnVOowduDFMW72-yTqb4W4tp/s1600/IBR_inscriptions_spatial_humanities_Generic_Viewer_969f03201e.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Concept for the Generic Viewer interface.<br />
From the <a href="http://www.spatialhumanities.de/en/ibr/technology/genericviewer.html" target="_blank">project website</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
You can then filter the annotations in various ways, and find different sort of information. From the author of the annotation to articles and bibliography about the specific feature.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I was very curious about this tool when I saw it presented. Having my PhD in mind, my first two questions were, quite predictably:</div>
<div class="p1">
* could the GV work with CAD models as well as with point clouds?</div>
<div class="p1">
* would my ontology work on a point cloud? Even better: would my ontology work on spatial data that has not been produced by me?</div>
<div class="p1">
A part from these two first questions, I have been given the opportunity to say what else I would like the GV to do, what functions to offer. So, I have started thinking about it, and playing with the system, supported by a nice group of developers and spatial data geeks.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
First of all, I had to find out if it was possible to import my CAD 3D model of the Iseum into the GV. On paper it was just not doable, for a series of reasons, from technical to conceptual. The main barrier was simply that the GV is meant to import exclusively point clouds, and not 3D meshes. It allows ptg or xyz formats, nothing else. </div>
<div class="p1">
Moreover, the GV is not designed for free exploration of the digital space. The views are constrained and always refer to the positions of viewpoints (i.e. the positions of the scanners that have generated the data). This makes it possible to derive a number of useful geometric and spatial data, but, on the other hand, a completely artificial space that has no specific view-point didn’t seem to fit in.</div>
<div class="p1">
The adventure looked like it was ended even before starting. But did you notice the effect that the word “impossible” generates on developers? So, luckily, my i3Mainz colleagues Martin Unold and Alexandra Müller were up for a few experiments on it.</div>
<br />
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
</div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-42927469032699792652014-11-17T07:05:00.000-08:002015-02-16T07:26:16.845-08:00Routine can kill passion (and mess up your data)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp-4g7eoutT6xWniPmMX7ZzREmEus-DPOXWJ20qxMfP1xil_WgYZexpdvKG7x0YbS3kH_wZHk5zjM9e7fyMj1sTCpYHM-twsHKfAx871PO5zQMuqzPzQpeu9WIpNwngOgZqEbkRHe96qcT/s1600/frogs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp-4g7eoutT6xWniPmMX7ZzREmEus-DPOXWJ20qxMfP1xil_WgYZexpdvKG7x0YbS3kH_wZHk5zjM9e7fyMj1sTCpYHM-twsHKfAx871PO5zQMuqzPzQpeu9WIpNwngOgZqEbkRHe96qcT/s1600/frogs.jpg" height="199" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
Documenting what you do, step by step, sounds easy. But it is not. Think, for example, of describing your morning routine. Would you be able to? And how accurately? Let’s give it a try: you wake up, get out of bed, prepare your coffee or tea... Wait. We forgot to say that you put your slippers on. Oh, and before that, that you probably turned off your alarm. You see? The things that we do automatically can be among the most complicated to document. So, when I started documenting my work, I realised how many small (and not so small) transformations and adjustments I apply to my data, without even thinking. Then I wondered if these actions should be documented as well.</div>
<div class="p1">
The problem is, as always, where to draw a line and when “more information” becomes “too much information”. I have tried to keep the ontology slim, so that its complexity is not off putting for other researchers. However, the ontology is theoretically always open to further specification, that the user can decide to use or not. </div>
<div class="p1">
Just to give an example, I want to mention some of the operations that virtual archaeologists, in my experience, perform so often that they might go unnoticed. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><u>Elements of a series: isDerivedFrom</u></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 1.38;">In the real world, of course, things are all unique. If measured, all the columns in the colonnade of the Iseum would have similar but different values. I have decided that the level of granularity of my representation doesn’t require that precision. Therefore, as in many other models of ancient buildings, all my columns have been artificially assumed to be identical (and perfectly aligned). Only one has been measured on site (the one that looked better preserved), and the others duplicated. To express this process, the subelement column that has been actually measured is documented as based on hard measurements (taken by me and available online at a certain url), while all the others are recorded as derived from other elements, i.e. derived from the value of the only measured one. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx40Y-h0LGR2BpZzKWbrJldNvk80LTO8REerisKF0A9OzImBbIwz-qOKILDp_LUtBLZ4UPQ_vZPsw6ZsbN6VJgm5BRr9oFOyynZyMHDLHhdKZIQ5JqgQovI_wHcw0Wa7DgoHaovNsMewFt/s1600/ekklesiasterion_measures.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx40Y-h0LGR2BpZzKWbrJldNvk80LTO8REerisKF0A9OzImBbIwz-qOKILDp_LUtBLZ4UPQ_vZPsw6ZsbN6VJgm5BRr9oFOyynZyMHDLHhdKZIQ5JqgQovI_wHcw0Wa7DgoHaovNsMewFt/s1600/ekklesiasterion_measures.png" height="183" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My measurements of the ekklesiasterion of the Iseum.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><u>Elements of a series: isConformedTo</u></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 1.38;">Another possibility, is that a series of elements, such as the arches on the east wall of the ekklesiasterion, have actually been singularly measured but, for various reasons, it is not considered relevant to represent these differences visually in the model. In the case of the ekklesiasterion, my assumption is that the differences between the arches are mainly due to weathering and other accidents. And, although they were never perfectly identical in the past, my reckon is that they were meant to look so (a part from the central one which is wider), so I think it made sense to just model one arch and clone it four times. It is actually a more economical approach from a modelling point of view.</span><span style="line-height: 1.38;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
How to represent this process in the documentation? In this case, all the arches had been measured, however they have been «conformed» (the word is a work in progress label. Any better ideas? «regularised»? «normalised»? ) to an average value. In the documentation, they have an attribute that has as value the range between the lowest and the highest values measured, and the percentage that this range is against the whole measured value. That sounds confusing… So, the four arches of the east wall of the ekklesiasterion (I have left out the wider central one) have a width between 159 and 164 cm. So, all the four of them have, as value of hasWidth an average 162 cm. However, the arches (transitions) also have two attributes which are “isConformedTo: average of four (159/164)”, and “hasVariation (again, the label is a work in progress): 3%”; i.e. the percentage of the variation against the whole average value: 5 cm on 162 cm.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
If stating that the columns of a colonnade have not been singularly measured can sound unnecessary and pedantic (and, maybe, it actually is…), conforming the value of elements that had been measured might sound like a loss of information. However, in the documentation of the 3D element, there is always a link to the original measurements in case they are needed at a different stage of the research or by other scholars. </div>
</div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-27670797103790074992014-11-03T06:24:00.000-08:002015-02-16T07:29:08.039-08:00Embrace your inner dr. Frankenstein: documenting heterogeneous sources<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
There are a few things I have noticed writing the documentation of my 3D model in RDF, that I had not realised before starting thinking about it.</div>
<div class="p1">
When I started my research on the ontology, I assumed that assigning one source to each element of the 3D model would have been more than enough to document sufficiently a 3D visualisation of cultural heritage.</div>
<div class="p1">
But then I found out that a single source not always could provide all the information I was looking for. I (and possibly many others in this field) have to put together pieces of information that not only come from various archives but that have often different format, author and history. I know, it sounds like a terrible mess…</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJPqgqbhpIQzqYiMYfR7Sb3VvBBMTqS5B3dOpBC3uObzY1ms0WMfxDeLiFo5lYdXNKZhetdfq530JVfKGEmPmXp-vfQ_FwOopdnsaWwX3srgNi0K0lHD6BSw12PeAMvAPcIUkTzKGbx0Y/s1600/image001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJPqgqbhpIQzqYiMYfR7Sb3VvBBMTqS5B3dOpBC3uObzY1ms0WMfxDeLiFo5lYdXNKZhetdfq530JVfKGEmPmXp-vfQ_FwOopdnsaWwX3srgNi0K0lHD6BSw12PeAMvAPcIUkTzKGbx0Y/s1600/image001.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ekklesiasterion of the Iseum in Pompeii, the north<br />
wall visible between the arches of the east one.<br />
Picture from <a href="http://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R8/8%2007%2028%20p5.htm" target="_blank">pompeiiinpictures</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
For example, let’s look at the hypothetical restoration of the Iseum pre catastrophe. If we take the north wall of the ekklesiasterion, we can say that the width of the wall has actually been measured. So, the source for that specific information is the measurement taken on site and recorded by the researcher (in this case me) and available online at a certain url. The depth of the wall, however, cannot really be measured, definitely not with the equipment I had with me. So, the value I have assigned to the depth of the north wall of the ekklesiasterion in my model is simply based on the depth of the east wall of the same room, that can be measured because it has arches in it. The guess is supported by the fact that the depth of the walls appears to be quite consistent across the entire architectonic complex. So, the source for this other bit of information, is another element (the east wall) that has actually been measured. Last, it is not possible to know how tall the wall was before the eruptions.</div>
<div class="p1">
For the more hypothetical elements, I have relied on Piranesi’s drawings as they have proven to be a thorough and, all in all, acceptably reliable visualisation. Thus, the height of the north wall has yet another source.<br />
<span style="line-height: 1.38;"><br />As you can see, the problem here is that not just each element, but even each dimension of the element can have a different source (it’s not always the case, but it has happened).</span><span style="line-height: 1.38;"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
For this reason, I have decided to enter, for each feature, transition or constrain, the attributes hasHight, hasWidth, hasDepth, and use them not only to express the numeric value, but also (or mainly) to connect them to the related source.</div>
<div class="p1">
Is this level of documentation, although expressed synthetically through RDF triples, sustainable? I’m not sure yet…</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHAPco-j3lSWsbERPEeB3CDtdhrhx2aGdERseqUKhk9qiuiYlNc9RdmhAacB7CtsLpssmc8m60FmofZwxLBe_QptitEcvYY4W907lV2ijIh5uIF4VaSLeijDQO8JUgnBde2GZo7IhsF2VL/s1600/giphy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHAPco-j3lSWsbERPEeB3CDtdhrhx2aGdERseqUKhk9qiuiYlNc9RdmhAacB7CtsLpssmc8m60FmofZwxLBe_QptitEcvYY4W907lV2ijIh5uIF4VaSLeijDQO8JUgnBde2GZo7IhsF2VL/s1600/giphy.png" height="320" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boris Karloff(*) as the Creature of Dr. Frankenstein<br />Image from <a href="http://giphy.com/" target="_blank">giphy</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To achieve a higher consistency, I could have tried to derive all information from the richest source, which is probably Piranesi. This would have been a perfectly acceptable choice, and the outcome would have been “an hypothetical restoration of the Iseum in Pompeii according to Francesco Piranesi”.</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="p1">
Nonetheless, I followed a different approach. Although I don’t want to state any degree of preferability among the different sources, I have chosen to use hard measurements each time they were available. Also, information derived geometrically from the actual remains has been considered preferable to the one derived from drawings or other secondary sources. Piranesi’s data, in the end, have been mostly used for the things that cannot be measured, that I didn’t measured (for various reasons) and that do not exist anymore.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I know that this choice makes my model a little frankenstein of information, but, in the first place, even the most detailed elevation or cross section cannot show all the information needed to produce a 3D model that is actually visible 360° in space. </div>
<div class="p3">
Second, my aim is not to produce a new groundbreaking hypothesis on the restoration of the Iseum but to provide a way to connect the 3D model to its sources. From this perspective, it is actually interesting to me to see how much I can stretch the potentiality of my system, and to give an idea of the richness and diversity of data virtual archaeologists deal with.</div>
<br />
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="s1">
</span>(*) trivia: glorious actor Boris Karloff is one of the King's College London illustrious alumni.</span></div>
</div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-9f3411fd-92bc-ddcf-9642-785685624a4e" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"></b>Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-10260678046877114872014-10-03T11:00:00.000-07:002015-02-16T07:10:53.769-08:00Particular to General: a round trip<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNZFkww5qpIEKmPkYIkyYPKOBZmink5VVByT77eV3FU99Q4HCdH8ws3Mfj9vydHZu6qpFiZt36FXOPOUT-9cUr9PA_vgs4fy7Czw2xN5Vn6mw0adov9PHkfAQg1LYO2ebdz0LUgaqOv_55/s1600/ntiii_nost_960060_2_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNZFkww5qpIEKmPkYIkyYPKOBZmink5VVByT77eV3FU99Q4HCdH8ws3Mfj9vydHZu6qpFiZt36FXOPOUT-9cUr9PA_vgs4fy7Czw2xN5Vn6mw0adov9PHkfAQg1LYO2ebdz0LUgaqOv_55/s1600/ntiii_nost_960060_2_large.jpg" height="202" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Greek philosopher and his disciples by Antonio Zucchi.<br />
From <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/a-greek-philosopher-and-his-disciples-170663" target="_blank">BBC Your Paintings</a></td></tr>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="p1">
When you are supposed to produce something that has to be logical and consistent, like, let’s say… an ontology, you are probably expected to have a very theoretical approach to it. Probably, your colleagues imagine you sitting at your desk, dressed like an ancient Greek philosopher, creating categories that describe reality. </div>
<div class="p1">
This is definitely a sensible and fruitful approach. It ensures a better level of consistency and it is likely to generate a more solid piece of knowledge modelling. </div>
<div class="p1">
Nonetheless, I have the feeling that what is really missing from the existing ontologies on cultural heritage are the specific issues that become apparent only in the very process of modelling or imaging. Even for 3D modellers it is easy to overlook some aspects of the work when they are not actually modelling but just <i>thinking about modelling</i>.<span class="s1"><br />
</span>I will need to wear the philosopher's clothes when this phase is finished to make everything more homogeneous and (hopefully) fill the gaps.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
So, I have decided to take a different approach: instead of "from general to particular", I’m going in the opposite direction. Looking at what I actually do, I have started drafting what is the information that, in my opinion and experience, is important to express in linked data. </div>
<div class="p1">
We can call it a more experimental, or laboratory-style approach.</div>
<div class="p1">
Deductive and inductive methods are both valuable and needed, maybe at different stages. At the moment, I am completely immersed in the second one. The idea is that it would make the ontology closer to the actual visualisation process, from the research to the production of the output. </div>
<div class="p3">
However, the particular-to-general approach has also its drawbacks. I keep changing things when I realise that there are aspects of the process that I had neglected, or not covered in the right way. I add, change or delete attributes very often. Let’s say that I'm working for subsequent refinements. This obviously very much compromises the consistency of my work. I fully expect to spot quite apparent logical gaps only at the end (I bet, just <i>after</i> having submitted my thesis...).</div>
<div class="p3">
So I am now wearing (ideally) my lab coat and I am fully in the experimental mood. I have started from the relatively easiest of my layers, the one that visualises the Iseum as it might have been in the period before the eruption (but after its restoration). I think I have started identifying quite clearly some of the recurrent processes in virtual archaeology and 3d visualisation.</div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
Of course, everything is at work-in-progress stage: classifications. Concepts. Actually even labels and, generally, names.</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-72786585340584113602014-07-01T11:32:00.000-07:002014-07-02T06:44:37.475-07:00The Mysterious Story of the Disappeared Colonnade<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">As we mentioned realism and realistic style, it is probably the right time to tell one of my favourite Iseum stories: the Disappeared Colonnade (and Wall).</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivunrzxoLthU8KgFFVP5B_MS_doNVqDago7tn1zwlKiSemOzRhqW5NN360z4vIPmFtW1PeSGNZx9HLgEvbZCv9PnXKz9V5g9FohGVShKwHHzuJYpZEdOvbae27N5Qw3_f6nOWSEUB7jNP-/s1600/deprez+isis-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivunrzxoLthU8KgFFVP5B_MS_doNVqDago7tn1zwlKiSemOzRhqW5NN360z4vIPmFtW1PeSGNZx9HLgEvbZCv9PnXKz9V5g9FohGVShKwHHzuJYpZEdOvbae27N5Qw3_f6nOWSEUB7jNP-/s1600/deprez+isis-1.jpg" height="229" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">DEPREZ, Louis Jean, Temple of Isis with Protective Covering <br />at Pompeii, undated, black ink, grey wash and watercolour, <br />National Museum, Stockholm.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">If you’re an artist grew up professionally with the myth of Ancient Rome as Neoclassicism disseminated it, then the Iseum is something particularly disconcerting to you. Too much colour, no marble, no symmetry. But, probably, the worse thing is that there is not enough room. All the elements are a bit too close. Again, not very “Roman”.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I cannot possibly say if it was due to disappointment or to the conscious attempt to support the cultural agenda that wanted Pompeii promoted as a “proper” Roman town, but what happens in the first representations of the temple is rather mysterious.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In this image by Desprez (which is also, by the way, the only one showing temporary structures to protect the temple and the purgatorium) the buildings are drawn in a way that makes them look bigger and wider. Maybe to accommodate better the majestic procession of Isis cultists that were very popular in the virtual reconstructions of the time (Piranesi and <a href="http://supercdi.free.fr/photos/NAPLES/PHOTOS-NAPLES-POMPEI%20(127).JPG" target="_blank">Saint-non</a>, in particular, were clearly very fond of Egyptian priests).</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1dVsFfVgPGkGBekjSKTFWaUAc4k7mA-cYJB9JQBpflHP3FaCYMQ6t-EF6r-edcvdhJLhvFvirvfm5ITK2zQ4XIMRDWP0EZpvqBXHo7-nac-ueI-rcOh50ajOHrCzaxBAq-f2Y9rC8laF/s1600/piranesi_view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1dVsFfVgPGkGBekjSKTFWaUAc4k7mA-cYJB9JQBpflHP3FaCYMQ6t-EF6r-edcvdhJLhvFvirvfm5ITK2zQ4XIMRDWP0EZpvqBXHo7-nac-ueI-rcOh50ajOHrCzaxBAq-f2Y9rC8laF/s1600/piranesi_view.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/giovanni-battista-piranesi/view-of-the-temple-of-isis-which-today-exists-among-the-remains-of-the-ancient-city-of-pompeii" target="_blank">PIRANESI, View of the Temple of Isis, <br />which today exists among the remains of the ancient city of Pompeii</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The fact is that, to represent such a view (and make possible crowded and scenographic nocturnal celebrations), Desprez had to operate a little surgery on reality: he removed an entire row of big, doric columns. They are just gone. Vanished. And, with them, the massive east wall of the Iseum. In other words, he has changed the Iseum into a cinematographic set with only three sides (the fourth one left for the camera). </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The same magic event can be seen in Piranesi drawings, as well (unsurprisingly, as Desprez was a big fan of Piranesi family’s work). Again, in spite of the realism of the scene that is, under other respect, quite faithful to the truth, the east side of the colonnade is gone. The lovely detail of the people congregating next to the Purgatorium, is geometrically impossible (there is barely room for a single person between the Purgatorium and the colonnade). So, this very realistic view is basically fake, it never existed. But of course, that didn’t stop people from copying and reproducing it.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh552KIm867o4le471Na4sOYglZSTubyEIjAam3fKg_a-KHBZMOIXy2MDncxzSGQg9lB11S7CBr8RLnZQErgNHC7avfaWnOkVQPjION7jTF-PJo2-EXx-KJap2wEQ06-ywO9gOyPnamL8nP/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh552KIm867o4le471Na4sOYglZSTubyEIjAam3fKg_a-KHBZMOIXy2MDncxzSGQg9lB11S7CBr8RLnZQErgNHC7avfaWnOkVQPjION7jTF-PJo2-EXx-KJap2wEQ06-ywO9gOyPnamL8nP/s1600/3.jpg" height="234" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photographic illustration for The Last Days of Pompeii<br />from <a href="http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bulwer/pompeii/photos/3.html" target="_blank">victorianweb</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And just to remember that it is not a matter of technology, the advent of photography didn’t really bring more “objectivity”: it seems that photographer were trying to reproduce the same sort of views that had been already popularised through drawings, engravings, and postcards. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Probably, because that is what the public was expecting to see in guidebooks and other publications about Pompeii. Thus, photographers tried to replicate the familiar view, forcing perspective a little bit to make the space look wider and, again, eliminating the columns from the frame. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Who said that a photograph never lies?</span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-36633810372111233012014-05-29T00:00:00.000-07:002014-05-29T15:53:29.424-07:00Raphael and the leg of Venus: the role of expectations in representation<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb7338pluFyo9P0hTCJUFk-tQqGZK0g4uOCwxvfip-5A-mOXXsfeW72WtP8jg4jTwd2CoZdOf-XB-bnu57EDb9n2iYjCORSH4u_r_vMNx6QiYRqPBMQvXmMCv3AANsj7k-kvMhYwriKsH2/s1600/galathea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb7338pluFyo9P0hTCJUFk-tQqGZK0g4uOCwxvfip-5A-mOXXsfeW72WtP8jg4jTwd2CoZdOf-XB-bnu57EDb9n2iYjCORSH4u_r_vMNx6QiYRqPBMQvXmMCv3AANsj7k-kvMhYwriKsH2/s1600/galathea.jpg" height="272" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raffaello Sanzio, The Triumph of Galatea<br />
from <a href="https://www.blogger.com/As%20we%20said,%20one%20of%20the%20most%20common%20feeling%20expressed%20by%20the%20first%20visitors%20of%20Pompeii%20was,%20generally,%20disappointment.%20%20The%20common%20idea%20of%20a%20Roman%20town%20was%20probably%20based%20on%20literary%20rather%20than%20archaeological%20evidence.%20And%20because,%20usually,%20the%20texts%20that%20are%20transmitted%20are%20the%20official%20ones,%20Roman%20cities%20were%20expected%20to%20be%20large,%20monumental%20and%20majestic.%20%20Unfortunately,%20Pompeii%20is%20quite%20far%20from%20that%20model.%20Buildings%20are%20cramped%20and%20often%20brightly%20coloured.%20But,%20probably,%20the%20most%20disappointing%20bit%20for%20the%20first%20(and%20contemporary?)%20visitors%20were%20the%20frescoes.%20One%20(only%20apparently%20unrelated)%20premise:%20it%20is%20interesting%20to%20notice%20the%20difference%20between%20what%20those%20visitors%20said%20about%20Pompeii%20when%20they%20were%20there%20and%20what%20they%20said%20about%20it%20years%20later,%20when%20they%20were%20relying%20on%20their%20memories%20more%20than%20their%20experience.%20Years%20after%20his%20first%20unexcited%20comments,%20Goethe%20writes%20that%20Pompeian%20frescoes%20are%20so%20excellent%20that%20they%20could%20stand%20next%20to%20Raphael%E2%80%99s%20ones.%20First,%20I%20don%E2%80%99t%20think%20it%20makes%20a%20lot%20of%20sense%20to%20assess%20archaeological%20evidence%20on%20its%20aesthetic%20or%20artistic%20relevance.%20This%20approach%20has%20caused%20the%20destruction%20of%20many%20Pompeian%20artefacts%20that%20were%20jus%20considered%20%E2%80%9Cnot%20pretty%20enough%E2%80%9D.%20Second,%20if%20we%20really%20want%20to%20assess%20the%20aesthetic%20value%20of%20Pompeian%20frescoes%20(from%20an%20art%20history%20point%20of%20view%20or%20as%20simple%20observers),%20it%20doesn%E2%80%99t%20make%20a%20lot%20of%20sense%20to%20me%20to%20compare%20two%20artefacts%20that%20are%20so%20distant%20from%20each%20other%20like%20first%20century%20AD%20Roman%20frescoes%20and%20Italian%20Renaissance%20oil%20paintings.%20%20However,%20if%20we%20do%20compare%20them,%20and%20assume%20that%20Raphael%E2%80%99s%20canons%20are%20a%20sort%20of%20archetype%20all%20figurative%20arts%20should%20conform%20to...%20then...%20well...%20Let%E2%80%99s%20put%20together%20the%20triumph%20of%20Galatea%20by%20Raphael%20and%20the%20fresco%20in%20the%20House%20of%20the%20Venus%20in%20the%20Shell.%20The%20subject%20is%20vaguely%20similar,%20but%20the%20images%20are%20very%20different.%20And%20I%E2%80%99m%20not%20saying%20that%20one%20is%20better%20than%20the%20other,%20just%20that%20they%20are%20very%20different%20and%20that%20it%20seems%20to%20me%20that%20the%20artists%20had%20very%20different%20concerns%20and%20goals.%20The%20point%20is%20that%20if%20you%E2%80%99re%20an%20enthusiastic%20Neoclassic%20(or%20proto-neoclassic)%20artist%20that%20goes%20to%20Pompeii,%20eager%20to%20see%20and%20reproduce%20images%20that%20you%20imagine%20to%20be%20Raphael-like%20(following%20the%20syllogism:%20Roman%20art%20is%20perfect,%20Raphael%E2%80%99s%20art%20is%20perfect,%20Roman%20art%20must%20look%20like%20Raphael%E2%80%99s%20art)%20and%20you%20see%20our%20lovely%20Venus%20in%20the%20Shell...%20there%20is%20going%20to%20be%20quite%20a%20clash%20between%20your%20expectation%20and%20reality.%20This%20could%20explain%20why%20some%20of%20the%20drawings%20of%20the%20excavation%20time%20are,%20again,%20slightly%20dissimilar%20from%20the%20original.%20%20And%20we%20can%20definitely%20say%20it,%20as%20in%20some%20cases%20the%20original%20artefact%20survived%20and%20we%20can%20compare%20it%20to%20its%20documentation.%20%20So,%20let%E2%80%99s%20add%20some%20items%20to%20the%20list%20of%20things%20that%20affect%20the%20representation%20process.%20We%20don%E2%80%99t%20really%20know%20for%20sure%20what%20went%20through%20the%20mind%20of%20the%20first%20artists%20copying%20Pompeian%20frescoes,%20but%20we%20can%20speculate%20about%20it,%20especially%20if%20we%20focus%20on%20what,%20in%20my%20experience,%20is%20the%20element%20more%20often%20%E2%80%9Ctouched%20up%E2%80%9D:%20the%20human%20body%20(well,%20divine%20and%20semi-divine%20as%20well%20:-))%20We%20can%20imagine%20the%20artist%20spending%20hours%20and%20hours%20learning%20how%20to%20reproduce%20human%20bodies%20in%20the%20%C2%ABright%C2%BB%20way%20(i.%20e.%20as%20more%20realistic%20as%20they%20can).%20So,%20maybe,%20they%20just%20couldn%E2%80%99t%20help%20drawing%20in%20the%20way%20they%20have%20learnt%20and%20inadvertently%20%E2%80%9Ccorrected%E2%80%9C%20the%20anatomy%20in%20the%20copy.%20Another%20hypothesis%20is%20that%20they%20are%20drawing%20not%20what%20they%20are%20actually%20seeing%20but%20what%20they%20were%20expecting%20(and%20wanting)%20to%20see.%20We%20could%20even%20hypothesise%20that%20the%20artists%20didn%E2%80%99t%20want%20the%20public%20to%20suspect%20that%20they%20were%20not%20good%20enough%20at%20drawing.%20Maybe%20they%20didn%E2%80%99t%20want%20anyone%20to%20think%20%E2%80%9Coh%20look%20at%20this%20lousy%20copy!%20The%20artist%20is%20so%20useless%20that%20cannot%20even%20draw%20the%20leg%20of%20the%20Venus%20properly!%E2%80%9D.%20%20Here%20is%20an%20example%20from%20Herculaneum.%20The%20drawing%20(from%20the%20book%20Antiquity%20Recovered%20)%20is%20a%20copy%20of%20one%20of%20the%20Herculaneum%20frescoes%20that%20are%20now%20exhibited%20in%20the%20Naples%20Museum.%20%20All%20the%20body%20proportions%20look%20much%20more%20%E2%80%9Charmonic%E2%80%9D%20than%20the%20original.%20%20Actually,%20in%20the%20case%20of%20Pompeii%20and%20Herculaneum%20there%20is%20at%20least%20another%20major,%20and%20slightly%20bizarre,%20reason%20that%20explains%20why%20representations%20are%20precious%20sources%20of%20information%20but%20have%20also%20to%20be%20treated%20with%20a%20certain%20care.%20For%20the%20first%20years%20it%20was%20not%20allowed%20to%20make%20copies%20of%20the%20exhibits%20in%20the%20Museum%20of%20Portici.%20But%20the%20temptation%20was%20too%20strong%20and%20some%20artists%20(like,%20%20the%20authors%20of%20this%20one),%20took%20quick%20sketches%20that,%20probably,%20refined%20out%20of%20the%20museum,%20without%20the%20original%20in%20front%20of%20their%20eyes.%20According%20to,%20xxx,%20this%20would%20also%20explain%20why%20there%20are%20no%20bootleg%20copies%20of%20the%20artefact%20positioned%20close%20to%20the%20entrance:%20there%20were%20always%20too%20many%20guards%20nearby.%20%20A%20mix%20of%20%E2%80%9Ccosmetic%20documentation%E2%80%9D,%20the%20gap%20between%20expectation%20and%20reality,%20and%20memory-based%20drawing%20could%20also%20explain%20why%20there%20is%20so%20much%20discrepancy%20between%20the%20documentation%20of%20the%20frescoes%20of%20the%20Ekklesiasterium%20in%20the%20Iseum%20and%20the%20actual%20fragments%20exhibited%20in%20the%20Museum%20of%20Naples.%20In%20spite%20of%20the%20very%20realistic%20style%20(always%20beware%20of%20the%20realistic%20style!),%20and%20the%20fact%20that%20they%20were%20commissioned%20to%20top%20class%20professionals%20of%20the%20time,%20the%20drawings%20not%20always%20match%20the%20evidence,%20sometimes%20quite%20dramatically.%20But%20that%20story%20probably%20deserves%20a%20post%20on%20its%20own." target="_blank">wikipedia</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">As we said, one of the most common feeling expressed by the first visitors of Pompeii was, generally, disappointment. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The common idea of a Roman town was probably based on literary rather than archaeological evidence. And because, usually, the texts that are transmitted are the official ones, Roman cities were expected to be large, monumental and majestic. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Unfortunately, Pompeii is quite far from that model. Buildings are cramped and often brightly coloured. But, probably, the most disappointing bit for the first (and contemporary?) visitors were the frescoes.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">One (only apparently unrelated) premise: it is interesting to notice the difference between what those visitors said about Pompeii when they were there and what they said about it years later, when they were relying on their memories more than their experience.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Years after his first unexcited comments, Goethe writes that Pompeian frescoes are so excellent that they could stand next to Raphael’s ones.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">First, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to assess archaeological evidence on its aesthetic or artistic relevance. This approach has caused the destruction of many Pompeian artefacts that were jus considered “not pretty enough”.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Second, if we really want to assess the aesthetic value of Pompeian frescoes (from an art history point of view or as simple observers), it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to compare two artefacts that are so distant from each other like first century AD Roman frescoes and Italian Renaissance oil paintings.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">However, if we do compare them, and assume that Raphael’s canons are a sort of archetype all figurative arts should conform to... then... well... Let’s put together the triumph of Galatea by Raphael and the fresco in the House of the Venus in the Shell. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnrMlUu4FgWJWmA6X7_59snsVR4r1a8kGgNxD1deUbNAdNNv-L8P-WMwlos5EMqW8mCXIV0q5clIZvYtH3OObeJtq1d-2U27bqXcadtZl9OHJJrQ9qOFd65_Jxo3EgLqk82VIlLlZoV0OX/s1600/aphrodite_anadyomene_from_pompeii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnrMlUu4FgWJWmA6X7_59snsVR4r1a8kGgNxD1deUbNAdNNv-L8P-WMwlos5EMqW8mCXIV0q5clIZvYtH3OObeJtq1d-2U27bqXcadtZl9OHJJrQ9qOFd65_Jxo3EgLqk82VIlLlZoV0OX/s1600/aphrodite_anadyomene_from_pompeii.jpg" height="210" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresco in the House of Venus in the Shell<br />
Pompeii (Reg II, Ins 3, 3)<br />
<a href="http://pompeiansexualfrescoes.wordpress.com/tag/pompeii/page/2/" target="_blank">image credit</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The subject is vaguely similar, but the images are very different. And I’m not saying that one is better than the other, just that they are very different and that it seems to me that the artists had very different concerns and goals.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The point is that if you’re an enthusiastic Neoclassic (or proto-neoclassic) artist that goes to Pompeii, eager to see and reproduce images that you imagine to be Raphael-like (following the syllogism: Roman art is perfect, Raphael’s art is perfect, Roman art must look like Raphael’s art) and you see our lovely Venus in the Shell... there is going to be quite a clash between your expectation and reality.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This could explain why some of the drawings of the excavation time are, again, slightly dissimilar from the original. And we can definitely say it, as in some cases the original artefact survived and we can compare it to its documentation. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So, let’s add some items to the list of things that affect the representation process. We don’t really know for sure what went through the mind of the first artists copying Pompeian frescoes, but we can speculate about it, especially if we focus on what, in my experience, is the element more often “touched up”: the human body (well, divine and semi-divine as well :-))</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimu9bIDWhcStYWG3SNSpJ2NylrBmgA5j3iV1zmatVLOLr4dQ0HjLmR-CSB-JpId5W2ksPJ9xUkYzCJZKTK2b7QE-AWlnglv6uclS07QOzMlkYAEGdlNHG7dP_FvJyd1G6744ZxpLgN5Ex6/s1600/thseus_sketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimu9bIDWhcStYWG3SNSpJ2NylrBmgA5j3iV1zmatVLOLr4dQ0HjLmR-CSB-JpId5W2ksPJ9xUkYzCJZKTK2b7QE-AWlnglv6uclS07QOzMlkYAEGdlNHG7dP_FvJyd1G6744ZxpLgN5Ex6/s1600/thseus_sketch.jpg" height="320" width="227" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing by J-C. Bellicard, 1754</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">We can imagine the artist spending hours and hours learning how to reproduce human bodies in the «right» way (i. e. as more realistic as they can). So, maybe, they just couldn’t help drawing in the way they have learnt and inadvertently “corrected“ the anatomy in the copy. Another hypothesis is that they are drawing not what they are actually seeing but what they were expecting (and wanting) to see.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">We could even hypothesise that the artists didn’t want the public to suspect that they were not good enough at drawing. Maybe they didn’t want anyone to think “what a lousy copy! The artist is so useless that cannot even draw the leg of the Venus properly!”.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
Here is an example from Herculaneum. The drawing (from the book <a href="http://shop.getty.edu/products/antiquity-recovered-978-0892368723" target="_blank">Antiquity Recovered</a> ) is a copy of one of the Herculaneum frescoes that are now exhibited in the Naples Museum. All the body proportions (especially in the case of the Minotaur) look much more “harmonic” than the original. <span class="s1"></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCOvsqXb9O2nfsDxgkL3VQOFgqAc3HbwjmjbpaBxnop6h8-_S-ZrMrzhuqaiOBf3qd0OPXoXtqrgt8pq37n8hXUl5TRk-FRuzHy46nrI3koguydLGzij6u_-qMnh4YZp6UD30AlfcceVpz/s1600/theseus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCOvsqXb9O2nfsDxgkL3VQOFgqAc3HbwjmjbpaBxnop6h8-_S-ZrMrzhuqaiOBf3qd0OPXoXtqrgt8pq37n8hXUl5TRk-FRuzHy46nrI3koguydLGzij6u_-qMnh4YZp6UD30AlfcceVpz/s1600/theseus.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresco from the Basilica in Herculaneum<br />
Image from the <a href="http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/04/2011/hm4_1_295_8.html" target="_blank">Hermitage website</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Actually, in the case of Pompeii and Herculaneum there is at least another major, and slightly bizarre, reason that explains why representations are precious sources of information but have also to be treated with a certain care. For the first years it was not allowed to make copies of the exhibits in the Museum of Portici. But the temptation was too strong and some artists (like, Bellicard, author of this one), took quick sketches that, probably, refined out of the museum, without the original in front of their eyes. According to Lyons and Reed, this would also explain why there are no bootleg copies of the artefacts positioned close to the entrance: there were always too many guards nearby.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br />
A mix of “cosmetic documentation”, the gap between expectation and reality, and memory-based drawing could also explain why there is so much discrepancy between the documentation of the frescoes of the Ekklesiasterium in the Iseum and the actual fragments exhibited in the Museum of Naples. In spite of the very realistic style (always beware of the realistic style!), and the fact that they were commissioned to top class professionals of the time, the drawings not always match the evidence, sometimes quite dramatically. But that story probably deserves a post on its own.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-55562944018677118482014-05-28T00:00:00.000-07:002014-05-28T07:37:09.103-07:00Orpheus' lost twins<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_GFqjKpsaNLtn0BzpqadSZqbTnY1IJsG0qOilZ_kIpJBJp791iu8aWqVEi9VUAMzZdP_s9e5X5IeYc4YXnJhLqfkwQDrMFcwLF4pe1ab1SwJuZoJtEqONZxygw9Yziobbo2vWZWUFOGL/s1600/orpheus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_GFqjKpsaNLtn0BzpqadSZqbTnY1IJsG0qOilZ_kIpJBJp791iu8aWqVEi9VUAMzZdP_s9e5X5IeYc4YXnJhLqfkwQDrMFcwLF4pe1ab1SwJuZoJtEqONZxygw9Yziobbo2vWZWUFOGL/s1600/orpheus.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fresco in the House of Orpheus' garden<br />
Photo from <a href="http://www.pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R6/6%2014%2020%20p9.htm" target="_blank">pompeiiinpictures</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The House of Orpheus in Pompeii owns its (second) name to a big fresco depicting Orpheus surrounded by animals. The image is now mostly faded, especially the left and bottom areas. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But with Pompeian artefacts there is always a chance that the object we are interested in has been somehow recorded or documented at the time of the excavations, when many features that are now lost were still visible. They might have been described in verbal accounts, photographed, or copied by an artist.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So, if we look into into libraries and archives, we do find that Orpheus’ fresco has been reproduced by Niccolini in 1854. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It seems that, luckily, we have found the missing information we were looking for: the left side of the fresco shows a charming illusional garden, probably meant to interact, visually, with the actual one. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
If we were about to produce a digital restoration of our fresco, that would look like a precious source of information. And, it definitely is.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
However, if we have a better look at our sources, we find another reproduction of the same painting, this time by Emil Presuhn, in 1878.</div>
<div class="p1">
The two drawings are supposed to be copies of the same original. But, when you put them next to each other, something doesn’t add up...</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGlJdQSjo1lSN6BmfoDvZN-TnfWY4q8jbHuSzwG5r9eCKsbm-5ORTSr1fByN81eBMxaDO6iFYUT2TXfm5oSfSGK8DnkYaGesA7gPlyWRRYvzBLD31WHBt-qAaP1aZOxxrzUD6IyzRbL0I0/s1600/orpheus2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGlJdQSjo1lSN6BmfoDvZN-TnfWY4q8jbHuSzwG5r9eCKsbm-5ORTSr1fByN81eBMxaDO6iFYUT2TXfm5oSfSGK8DnkYaGesA7gPlyWRRYvzBLD31WHBt-qAaP1aZOxxrzUD6IyzRbL0I0/s1600/orpheus2.jpg" height="232" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: Niccolini's reproduction of the Orpheus fresco. Right: Presuhn's one</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="p1">
Although the general structure and theme of the composition is definitely very similar, there are countless differences in small and not-so-small details.</div>
<div class="p1">
Some animals look completely different: the lion in Niccolini’s drawing become an elephant in Presuhn’s one, the big feline in Niccolini’s is an hippo for Presuhn and so on... The colours are also very different: Niccolini shows a green landscape, while in Presuhn we see a quite dry one, with no water streams. We might hypothesise that Presuhn was reproducing an original that was already further degraded, although there are only about 20 years between the two publications. </div>
<div class="p1">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxlqB6j0PXdAM3MV64nMpT2Unc80O4zBHwHJWuVLSNtqJQJkqHXI-vsWLZ0llWCjKrPsfT-I_zlss9tu0u2_lt3kil7d3iPDhtK8nLbH3vuyit8llPJFwYiDUqZj6bkq-2_Emi55f3DiF/s1600/niccolini_det.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxlqB6j0PXdAM3MV64nMpT2Unc80O4zBHwHJWuVLSNtqJQJkqHXI-vsWLZ0llWCjKrPsfT-I_zlss9tu0u2_lt3kil7d3iPDhtK8nLbH3vuyit8llPJFwYiDUqZj6bkq-2_Emi55f3DiF/s1600/niccolini_det.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOD7Pj4NI-f0tC58PpdwZcE0YNe0nN2nXNhr0w4S4aQaY664_eHgj96hPaTYjcCISqe_l9_VZiWvMg4EWZyDUepfIgQrwzDdRZoVuiKqWPoX32CdfXsNQlZ1Ppom7aFt1ltP4OOmJw6-8J/s1600/presuhn_det.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOD7Pj4NI-f0tC58PpdwZcE0YNe0nN2nXNhr0w4S4aQaY664_eHgj96hPaTYjcCISqe_l9_VZiWvMg4EWZyDUepfIgQrwzDdRZoVuiKqWPoX32CdfXsNQlZ1Ppom7aFt1ltP4OOmJw6-8J/s1600/presuhn_det.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But that wouldn’t explain why, on the contrary, the left part of the fresco, looks much more detailed in Presuhn’s version than in Niccolini’s one. The bottom bit, again, is only apparently similar but very different at a second look.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJAwnKvuvHzJny-D9p11_hwoYj-JN3zdEXj7qhDr3O1imt73T1PhL-bPmXdB30oxZdMC3FQOiIw9U4oVBOgs-kOYDj8Zlb_JAppy359z89OoJOcrug-isy1Llkp1_s8hUdFI47aTe1TnB/s1600/niccolini_birds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJAwnKvuvHzJny-D9p11_hwoYj-JN3zdEXj7qhDr3O1imt73T1PhL-bPmXdB30oxZdMC3FQOiIw9U4oVBOgs-kOYDj8Zlb_JAppy359z89OoJOcrug-isy1Llkp1_s8hUdFI47aTe1TnB/s1600/niccolini_birds.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a><span class="s1">Which one is the right one? Well, sadly we don’t have the original anymore to say which copy is the most accurate. Possibly, they are both equidistant from the model. Or, may be, each of them has more accurate bits than the other. For sure, they are both subjective representations of the same artefact and both influenced by a long list of variables.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I’m using these two drawings to start my little list of some of the most common factors that impact on representations of cultural heritage. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">First bullet point: skills and tools.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Not everyone is equally good at the technique they are using to represent an artefact. Not all the artist are equally skilled (if we consider «skill» as the ability to reproduce the original as close as possible) as well as not all the 3D modellers have the same familiarity with the software.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1Cgm0y-Q0q0wOl8dd3UvZBi8xzOzG6HfNDE9f1MGeMuxbkaG2BYF3MzvRmC4-nbvvMK6BGmOwzmBFPdEDtjD2Q7sxgJRouPS-OjuunZPqYC4ettRYCFPf_-LjY3v3N8SFmNFUNNWUV4Y/s1600/presuhn_birds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1Cgm0y-Q0q0wOl8dd3UvZBi8xzOzG6HfNDE9f1MGeMuxbkaG2BYF3MzvRmC4-nbvvMK6BGmOwzmBFPdEDtjD2Q7sxgJRouPS-OjuunZPqYC4ettRYCFPf_-LjY3v3N8SFmNFUNNWUV4Y/s1600/presuhn_birds.jpg" height="320" width="195" /></a><span class="s1">Then there is training. Although the two drawings are almost contemporary, a different style is clearly detectable, possibly due to the artists different nationality (i.e. different art schools) or just to idiosyncratic differences. I am particularly fond of the lion face in both the drawings. They look very dissimilar from each other and neither of them very much Roman.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Last, the constrains that derive from the tool. For example, in this case, the very bright colours in Niccolini’s drawing and a certain flatness in both of them are probably due (I reckon) to the printing techniques at the time that didn’t allow much sophistication in colour. Likewise, our representation are influenced by the software and hardware that are available. Or, to be more precise, by the ones we can afford.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">PS: I was familiar with Presuhn drawing, and I had seen Niccolini’s one before. But I have realised how different they are only when Drew, one of my supervisors, showed me the page of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Gardens-Pompeii-Herculaneum-Appendices/dp/0892411252" target="_blank">Gardens of Pompeii, vol 2</a></i> where they are published together. Funnily, Jashemski uses both the drawings as a source of information about birds and plants in Pompeii, without a word on their striking dissimilarities.</span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-86462203106868962532014-05-27T00:00:00.000-07:002014-05-29T15:52:21.029-07:00Robespierre's tears and other stories about the truth of images<div style="text-align: left;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinDUnw0o0SjNlXjrvL5dtTEyZ47A6sNvrAHLyBwWAQK8KvRFfIZUvA-W5E8eIG6Fm9DurtTa89Y81p-aGSI3XdkzGXqfS5vMQgUXbge59iRURWH8P3T5AOTEerd9sRiKvIwHJdCkGS9zWg/s1600/antiquity&pictures-199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinDUnw0o0SjNlXjrvL5dtTEyZ47A6sNvrAHLyBwWAQK8KvRFfIZUvA-W5E8eIG6Fm9DurtTa89Y81p-aGSI3XdkzGXqfS5vMQgUXbge59iRURWH8P3T5AOTEerd9sRiKvIwHJdCkGS9zWg/s1600/antiquity&pictures-199.jpg" height="320" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">W.J. Stillman, Picture of the Parthenon</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Athens, </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1870. From Antiquity and Photography</span><br />
<a href="https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/digital_collections/" style="font-size: x-small;" target="_blank">Getty Digital Collection</a></td></tr>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have spent the last weeks reading about representation of cultural heritage. I went a little bit into reception studies, touched art and photography history and took some dust off my semiotic background. </span>As you can expect, the issues are many, complex and diverse. Especially when we talk about ancient cultural heritage. But there are a couple of points I want to highlight. </div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The first one is that every representation (in any medium) is an interpretation. There is always something of the person that is producing it, the culture they belong to, and the tools that are using. This probably sounds redundant and definitely not new. Unless you are attending a 3D imaging conference. Then, you will probably hear concepts like «perfect copy» and «objective recording» more times that you are comfortable with. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
I thought academics had already agreed many years ago on the fact that photographies <i>do</i> lie, or, better, represent the author’s personal view of reality. Inexplicably, the concept doesn’t seem to apply to new imaging techniques such as photogrammetry or laser scanning. </div>
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<span class="s1">The second point is that cultural objects (well, probably all objects but let’s talk about cultural heritage) are not fixed in time. They change and evolve, like living things. It becomes even more apparent when we talk about buildings. They are planned, built, damaged, restored, altered, repurposed, abandoned.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So, actually, when we produce a visualisation of something we should always clarify which moment of the «life» of the object we are actually representing.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">To deal with the chronological dimension, some 3D visualisation projects have introduced a timeline. For example, UCLA's <a href="http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Forum/timemap" target="_blank">Digital Roman Forum</a> and <a href="http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Karnak/timemap" target="_blank">Digital Karnak</a> show how buildings have changed, as singles and in relationship with each other. In Digital Karnak, more specifically, it’s possible to pick a period and see which buildings have been built, modified or destroyed at the time.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I found this approach very informative. However, it kind of assumes that the only segment of the life of an object (or place) we’re interested in is from when it is produced to when it is abandoned or destroyed.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuZBrroRZxg3gd16hKhPCDAh0M_uK6dMfFFOYeM7INydMs2aoMyDPKParBJFhsP4UrIT7OCsscAkU-U3yEA6rkmHzRwfEP_Liato4K3VkxWbkiA6CLKqUtv5BoqvSV6Wxk4oJLyF3upBnb/s1600/skeletons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuZBrroRZxg3gd16hKhPCDAh0M_uK6dMfFFOYeM7INydMs2aoMyDPKParBJFhsP4UrIT7OCsscAkU-U3yEA6rkmHzRwfEP_Liato4K3VkxWbkiA6CLKqUtv5BoqvSV6Wxk4oJLyF3upBnb/s1600/skeletons.jpg" height="215" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fragonard, J., 1775 Travellers viewing a skeleton at<br />
Pompeii. (Such "discoveries" were often staged<br />
to please prestigious guests)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I think that what happens to cultural heritage when it is discovered, recorded, exhibited and disseminated is still an interesting matter. Objects keep changing, even after their uncovering. Even when they are closed in a glass cabinet. And I am not only talking about material changes, but also about how </span>changes the way we look at them.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Let’s consider Pompeii. The circumstances of its destruction often make people think that it came out from the earth exactly as we see it now. That it emerged perfectly intact, as, to use Lazer's words, a sort of Sleeping Beauty castle. Which is rather far from the truth. A quick look at pictures of the excavations shows how much the place has been changing in the last 250 years: how much of it has been restored, adjusted, twitched, when not completely staged for the tourist’s gaze.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So, my point is, mainly, that all representations are partial and biased. And using cutting edge techniques doesn’t change it. They can be more or less accurate, but are always subjective. Which is not a bad thing per se, as long as there is a general awareness of the limits of the representation process, and, even more important, when we can compare different interpretations that enrich and complement each other. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And I’m afraid we, somehow, ended up with multivocality </span>and multi-authorship. Again.</div>
<div class="p2">
To make up for this, I’m going to tell some (possibly funny) stories connected to representations and interpretations. Many, but not all of them, involving Pompeii. Starting with one of my favorite anecdote about the “truth of images” by father of cinema Sergej Eisenstein:<span class="s1"></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I cannot resist the pleasure of citing here one montage tour de force of this sort, executed by Boitler. One film bought from Germany was Danton, with Emil Jannings. As released on our screens, this scene was shown: Camille Desmoulins is condemned to the guillotine. Greatly agitated, Danton rushes to Robespierre, who turns aside and slowly wipes away a tear. The sub-title said, approximately, 'In the name of freedom, I had to sacrifice a friend...' Fine.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>But who could have guessed that in the German original, Danton, represented as an idler, a petticoat chaser, a splendid chap and the only positive figure in the midst of evil characters, that this Danton ran to the evil Robespierre and... spat in his face? And that it was his spit that Robespierre wiped from his face with a handkerchief? And that the title indicated Robespierre's hatred of Danton, a hate that in the end of the film motivates the condemnation of Jannings-Danton to the guillotine!</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Two tiny cuts had reversed the entire significance of the scene!</i></blockquote>
(Eisenstein, S. 1949. <i>Film form: Essays in Film Theory</i>)</div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-23499711161001084432014-04-09T03:00:00.000-07:002014-04-09T04:45:53.158-07:00What is essential is visible to the eye (if you're in my model)<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I hope the ghost of Antoine de Saint-exupery won't haunt me for having played with the wise words of his Fox characters, inverting their meaning. I wasn't suggesting a triumph of shallowness and prejudice, but just introducing a brief premise about my 3D modelling process. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZmjnmLyqL8mQER2FaGpqUY5URpZVYIgw0vJpQGy8CGK_i2I1J_oFjNkwgkiJ_q8kgAlRyr29BNQ9vuxd4VJDXjs4zNidJn-eqXLADb0vc-9JAQV2a_O-uvdRBc2HsxJeEQHfuwoFLS7wf/s1600/cross_section.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZmjnmLyqL8mQER2FaGpqUY5URpZVYIgw0vJpQGy8CGK_i2I1J_oFjNkwgkiJ_q8kgAlRyr29BNQ9vuxd4VJDXjs4zNidJn-eqXLADb0vc-9JAQV2a_O-uvdRBc2HsxJeEQHfuwoFLS7wf/s1600/cross_section.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">F. Piranesi's hypothetical restoration of the Iseum (detail)<br />
showing the roof's supporting structure.<br />
From <a href="http://www.bildindex.de/#%7Chome" target="_blank">builtindex</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have said that the first phase of my modelling will focus on the present archaeological evidence <i>in situ</i>. I might have called it “what is still there”. The expression is not entirely correct because what I am going to model is actually what we can <b>see</b> of what is there (assuming that we were free to explore the whole Iseum as much as we like). </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">In practice, this means that, for example, I am going to model the Purgatorium's underground space, even though it is not immediately visible and it is not accessible to modern tourists without a permit, but is potentially both visible and accessible.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">On the other hand, I won't model what is not visible. To explain ti better, I can use an hypothetical example: let’s imagine that the roof of the Temple had survived. In that case, I would model only the ceiling (which is what an observer could see from inside the Temple) and the external elements such as the tiles or the architrave (which is what an observer could see from the outside of the Temple). But I wouldn’t model the (invisible) supporting structure. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I am sure that modelling what actually allows a roof to stand (for many centuries!) is of massive interest in the study of architecture and ancient building techniques. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">As I am more interested in how a building was seen and experienced by people (either at as a Roman Temple or as a modern Touristic Attraction), I have decided to include in my 3D model only what is accessible to the eyes of a human being that is allowed everywhere in the modelled space. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The matter would be different if the hypothetical roof would be damaged. Then, the internal structure would be visible to visitors and part of their experience (and, </span>therefore, object of my representation).</div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-33344817668602823142014-04-08T03:00:00.000-07:002015-02-11T14:25:54.255-08:00Everything has (at least) two faces: about walls and normals<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0kF1Y4I2ElDh33lrLvmH7Rm4pWJ5BoTgwssWh6XCxUNPF3vuKvSTwrP3CIXDiPFngDQ8_fDqw5N5YZ0NZecSqgdgE3YePd09muQlPFTWy3EXEnU1uZRexPta4705Ho5NdDd-g2WkJibQ/s1600/364px-Bakalovich_Pompeii._At_the_walls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0kF1Y4I2ElDh33lrLvmH7Rm4pWJ5BoTgwssWh6XCxUNPF3vuKvSTwrP3CIXDiPFngDQ8_fDqw5N5YZ0NZecSqgdgE3YePd09muQlPFTWy3EXEnU1uZRexPta4705Ho5NdDd-g2WkJibQ/s1600/364px-Bakalovich_Pompeii._At_the_walls.jpg" height="320" width="194" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>At the walls</i>, by S. Bakalovich<br />
from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bakalovich_Pompeii._At_the_walls.jpg" target="_blank">wikipedia</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-align: center;">To explain how I am going to deal with constraints, I will use the simplest, and most common, type of them: walls. Although they often look just as think lines on a plan, walls cannot be represented as flat two dimensional areas. That would contradict our experience and wouldn’t make any sense geometrically, as walls are three dimensional objects with different depth. </span><br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It is possible that at the very beginning of your 3D modelling career you are tempted, quite naively, to simply trace the shape of your walls and extrude them as a solid. In case, the puzzled expression of your supervisor and the question “what is that supposed to be? <i>Minecraft</i>?” will quickly tell you that you’re on the wrong track.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">What you are supposed to do (or, at least, what I am going to do) is to build two separate surfaces, one for the interior and one for the exterior, without modelling what is in between (i.e. the actual thickness of the wall).</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">There are a few reasons why I agree it is a sensible approach.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">First, walls (as well as every other constraint) may display different material or decorations on the inside or the outside. So, in the model, they will probably have different textures assigned. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Also, as we were discussing in the other posts, there is a logical (or ontological, in the linked data meaning of the word!) benefit in it. A wall often delimits two different spaces. But, more specifically, one side of it delimits one space and the other side delimits another space (or spaces). For example, the wall that separates the ekklesisaterium from the sacrarium, is the internal southern wall of the ekklesiasterion on one side, but, on the other side, it is the northern internal wall of the sacrarium.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhusn79Kbkdd6wYqTObNVGgeIGxGXpk7Uiy4GAqGA_1Rj4sLa1byroE9DudQ_6KHUCHay9GbsTHtKYReuHJkpiLgxWC_atmCrSnuhZG2-dA3OR-Dbo_U1r7OkoQL9rOBbMAVmmuLRrUbJ4-/s1600/walls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhusn79Kbkdd6wYqTObNVGgeIGxGXpk7Uiy4GAqGA_1Rj4sLa1byroE9DudQ_6KHUCHay9GbsTHtKYReuHJkpiLgxWC_atmCrSnuhZG2-dA3OR-Dbo_U1r7OkoQL9rOBbMAVmmuLRrUbJ4-/s1600/walls.jpg" height="167" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="s1">It may sound confusing at the beginning, but, after you get used to that, it is a simple yet effective convention that has proven his usefulness in my previous models already. I think it will also suit well the RDF modelling and help dividing meaningfully my digital archive.</span></div>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">If there weren’t enough reason to justify a separate management of the two surfaces of a wall (or other constraint), game and VR engines give us another good one: normals. Surfaces are visible only from one view, either from the interior on the exterior. Even if we had a wall with the same identical texture (let’s say a generic masonry), to allow a 360° virtual view of it, we still would need two surfaces: one looking towards the interior and one looking towards the exterior. This is the only way a character (or a camera) can have a realistic view of a virtual building when it is walking into a space as well as when it is walking around it.</span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-63673446009619999162014-04-07T02:00:00.000-07:002014-04-07T02:00:08.975-07:00Academic guilty pleasures: inventing words and making lists<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">What I needed in order to start, was a general name to identify everything that is in model. I know that even such an apparently harmless sentence can hyde insidious philosophical controversies. At this stage of my modelling, what I want to represent (both visually and conceptually) is the archaeological evidence, i.e. what can be still seen (and potentially measured) <i>in situ</i> at Pompeii. Further layers of visualisation that involve a bigger amount of speculation and interpretation, will be analysed (and modelled) later on.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2a2FPn4bTQUNWs2fvERnSmkGB1k80rupJhkjV0WaAKdVFUN3endo2vD3JmW0pi6N7Vl9DoH_7YgSkT_yXbilRYztxwbsrY0NSeWN9cDMPea_4qyQOXfZErsNlyID3bMj9mFyiccLZ2kSL/s1600/Schema_Saeulenordnungen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2a2FPn4bTQUNWs2fvERnSmkGB1k80rupJhkjV0WaAKdVFUN3endo2vD3JmW0pi6N7Vl9DoH_7YgSkT_yXbilRYztxwbsrY0NSeWN9cDMPea_4qyQOXfZErsNlyID3bMj9mFyiccLZ2kSL/s1600/Schema_Saeulenordnungen.jpg" height="206" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Classification of the Greek Orders<br />
from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schema_Saeulenordnungen.jpg" target="_blank">wikipedia</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-align: center;">The terms that I am using are just draft, at the moment. I hope to find something better in the future or even to discover that someone else has already worked out a more convincing naming system and is willing to share it with me.</span><br />
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The word I have chosen for all the components of the model is «element». I think it is abstract and general enough to be associated with pretty much anything (in any 3D model) and it covers logically both the tangible and intangible domains. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">There are no limits to the number of elements in a model or to their size.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">After a certain amount of head-banging against the screen of my computer, I think I have identified three different categories of elements. I have tried them against both the Iseum and the House of Orpheus. It seems to me that they kind of work, and cover all the possibilities in a relatively sensible way. But I wouldn’t be surprised if someone pointed out some discrepancy. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The three groups are:</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1) <b>spaces</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">2) <b>constraints</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">3) <b>transitions</b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">To be completely honest, this is probably all I need to assign meaningful names to the elements in my 3D model or to catalogue my digital archive of resources. But I thought it was useful to refine the classification a little bit, thinking of a future (potential) higher complexity. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">(The fact that I actually enjoy making lists has absolutely nothing to do with it)</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The classification itself, is very likely to be influenced by my 3D modelling experience and by the way I had been taught to approach ancient buildings (especially Pompeian ones) and their components.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwNMC4TLug_vqb8H_K6UI4madkh-kc3yfQz5mwm7aWK0rmDrytcs97rH9QcYShmBU6JgRDQrQ7rlpBtLt3IqtHLK94ctpgcg5BESjMYoVxADvldIj7o989AKLwJCN-59hyphenhyphenbytPeM7dyyIV/s1600/image002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwNMC4TLug_vqb8H_K6UI4madkh-kc3yfQz5mwm7aWK0rmDrytcs97rH9QcYShmBU6JgRDQrQ7rlpBtLt3IqtHLK94ctpgcg5BESjMYoVxADvldIj7o989AKLwJCN-59hyphenhyphenbytPeM7dyyIV/s1600/image002.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plaster cast of a Pompeian door.<br />
Photo by Günther Einhorn<br />
via <a href="http://www.pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R9/9%2007%2009.htm" target="_blank">Pompeiiinpictures</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="s1">I call «<b>spaces</b>» the elements that allow activities to happen within them. Very straight forward examples of spaces are all sorts of rooms but also gardens, portici, courtyards, etc...</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">«<b>Constraints</b>», on the other hand, are elements in which activities cannot take place, and usually serve as boundaries for spaces. The most common type of constraints are walls, but colonnades, podia and roofs will be considered constraints as well. A space is supposed to be delimited on each of its sides, although not all the constraints are tangible. A change in the mosaic pattern can delimit a space, even if there are no walls to mark the separation. To be precise (and slightly pedantic) the tangible constraints can be divided into permeable and impermeable. To the latter clearly belongs plain walls or high gates. To the former, belong colonnades. Although some constraints (such as colonnades) are physically permeable, I suspect that they were not always considered as such in practice. I can hardly imagine someone being allowed to jump down the Temple of Isis’ podium through the pronaos’ colonnade. However, I will consider only the material qualities to assign the constraint to one or the other category. All the ones we have mentioned so far are permanent constraints (both tangible and intangible), but we know that Romans had temporary ones as well, such as curtains or removable fences. The existence of temporary constraints implies, I guess, the existence of temporary spaces. As I am currently working only on the present archaeological evidence, temporary constraints or spaces are not object of my attention now. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Last, «<b>transitions</b>» are those elements that connects spaces and, as such, they do not belong to either of the two elements they connect, but are independent. We will consider two kinds of transitions: the ones that allow physical access from one place to the other (such as thresholds or stairs) and the ones that allow visual access from one place to the other (such as windows). Likewise the other two elements, they can be permanent (a stone staircase) or temporary (a ladder). </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Spaces, constraints and transitions can all have «<b>features</b>». Features is used, as the dictionary suggest, to indicate “</span><span class="s2">a distinctive attribute or aspect of something”. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Features often pertains to the decoration of a space, or a constrain, or a transition. It is easy to identify constraints features, as they are basically contiguous. For example niches in the walls, engaged columns, mosaic floors. But also transitions’ features are usually easy to spot (windows moulding, or doors). Stand-alone features, that have no physical contiguity with any other element (such as altars or herms), will be considered features of the space in which are situated. So, for example, the altar in front of the Purgatorium in the Iseum is a feature of the cavaedium. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabFdEysPqburaexQbDdMKK7Mhx20XGPI1Ju43VeoEx8IOSMI9QSmONOWcNVBWugxshb-6LibcE2N3w5-U4LHdS4dzlUZXR1TeuIHDQHTd0YgkL9H8i2DV9i6-W22dOI7JofYmeycWADId/s1600/vesta_temple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabFdEysPqburaexQbDdMKK7Mhx20XGPI1Ju43VeoEx8IOSMI9QSmONOWcNVBWugxshb-6LibcE2N3w5-U4LHdS4dzlUZXR1TeuIHDQHTd0YgkL9H8i2DV9i6-W22dOI7JofYmeycWADId/s1600/vesta_temple.jpg" height="229" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Circular colonnade in the Temple of Vesta, Rome.<br />
Photo by E. Trutat, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliothequedetoulouse/" target="_blank">Bibliothèque de Toulouse</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="s1">Any element can be divided into sub-elements, according to the level of granularity that the research requires. The sub-elements can be either areas or constraints. For example, in the Iseum, the element space temple can be divided into sub elements pronaos and cella (spaces) and roof and podium (constraints). The Temple also has quite a few transitions: staircases, thresholds, etc...</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The same constraint can delimit more than one space, especially when they are subelements of the same space. In the element Temple, constraint roof delimits both sub-elements space pronaos and cella.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It could be argued (especially after a couple of drinks) that the part of a constraint, let’s say a wall, that delimits a space, is conceptually different from the part of it that delimits a contiguous space (such as the wall shared by three of the private rooms in the Iseum). </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In this case, 3D modelling’s logic has stepped forward helping me in two ways. In the first place, reminding me the practicality (even the “materiality” if I can use this word) of the process. Digital 3D models should be optimised for Real Time engines or any other platform that makes them explorable by the users. Therefore it is crucial to keep the number of polygons under control. The less polygons, the faster is the loading process and smoother the character/camera movement.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Also, a limited number of polygons ensures a better control on the file for both the original author and the potential other researchers that want to build on top of it.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">On the other hand, I will deal with the conceptual separation of constraints through their internal and external surfaces.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">If what I have just written sounds a bit sibylline, I am going to explain myself better in the next post.</span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-1670743531031770402014-04-03T04:00:00.000-07:002014-04-05T12:56:13.405-07:00Breaking down reality<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwx6TTd2fcLGqOqwqAHVIg6U9Pl1kC6bpFxFbbC34Jyi5vdYgMHxZ3uCPcsVNSdhjFBefEjZXOK6WSmSp-JvALachpQTGTDonfCLcpj7gOtyN3tdS_hKP4DNZYc3uaQSxM61hrLTR5l0qM/s1600/Parmenides.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwx6TTd2fcLGqOqwqAHVIg6U9Pl1kC6bpFxFbbC34Jyi5vdYgMHxZ3uCPcsVNSdhjFBefEjZXOK6WSmSp-JvALachpQTGTDonfCLcpj7gOtyN3tdS_hKP4DNZYc3uaQSxM61hrLTR5l0qM/s1600/Parmenides.jpg" height="320" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Greek philosopher Parmenides<br />image from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmenides" target="_blank">wikipedia</a></span></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Dividing the Iseum in its main components and work out a naming convention that made sense in the 3D modelling context as well as in the RDF one, seemed a sensible starting point to me. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">However, reality is a continuum and every attempt to break it down according to our logic(s), and partly to our needs, is bound t</span><span style="text-align: center;">o result in long hours of discussion, over-consumption of coffee, and a severe headache. The meaning of words and concepts gets challenged over and over again in endless loops, going inevitably back to pre-socratic questions about «being» and «existing». </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The point is that every division and classification is artificial, no matter how much we are fascinated by <i>The Myth of Perfect Consistency</i> or how much we try to be objective.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Objectivity is, probably, a common self-delusion among ontologists. In my opinion, personal and cultural biases can be partly counter-balanced through collaboration and the expression of multiple hypotheses and interpretations. However, at this stage, I have to work on my own in order to produce a proof of concept. So, the best I can do is to record my methodology, so that I can revise it after having received feedbacks.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><u>About naming convention:</u> I was tempted, at the beginning, to use human readable names. I thought it would have made my 3D model much more accessible and easy to look at for other modellers. I had even thought of using Latin to label well identified areas, and more generic names, always in Latin, for the one that have not been identified yet. After discussing it, I have decided to abandon the idea for two main reasons:</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz49OW5Rv3DEouIrgeliJD52b2i3asAWvDDBm0mCYADbk6dxHRUJT1wIHJ3Yk5S_b2KCSV2K598j0bg8CPqm1BesJ8kCWASxocyWPCz7NyTt4EhlCv3JgH4wwzFdPxLPop6gLypFiWMlbv/s1600/IsisMainElements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz49OW5Rv3DEouIrgeliJD52b2i3asAWvDDBm0mCYADbk6dxHRUJT1wIHJ3Yk5S_b2KCSV2K598j0bg8CPqm1BesJ8kCWASxocyWPCz7NyTt4EhlCv3JgH4wwzFdPxLPop6gLypFiWMlbv/s1600/IsisMainElements.jpg" height="320" width="279" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Colour map of the elements of the Iseum</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1) it is not always so straightforward to label a space. The fact that I am mainly working on the Iseum can be deceptive under this respect. Roman sacred architecture tends to be quite formalised. So there is little to argue if I want to call the pronaos «pronaos». However, it’s not the case for every building in Pompeii. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">A look at my comparative example, the House of Orpheus, proved to be very useful. There are many spaces that do not have an agreed identification, and different scholars refer to them with different names. Not to mention that the upper story(ies) are entirely hypothetical. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">2) Giving a meaningful label means already to make assumptions about the use of a space. And I am trying very hard not to express interpretations at this level. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In the end, I have opted for a more abstract convention and I will simply use letters (in the English alphabet) to label the components of my model. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Through RDF triples, I will then express that, for example, room A is type kitchen according to scholar 1 and that the same room A is type storeroom according to scholar 2.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEMGtdAteTyOr_GFNNnkC7TUeKhAwc7JwWMrydkDDjXv75SOL1Gfo1qbg9Se8HU6xyuPHSzM-RgzDSTE0faWKkSDH1QciPiMwKfqLXoqfEOm-BFBqEkJw-apsYT6ZKFyh-sN5ITDMZl6RX/s1600/IsisIndex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEMGtdAteTyOr_GFNNnkC7TUeKhAwc7JwWMrydkDDjXv75SOL1Gfo1qbg9Se8HU6xyuPHSzM-RgzDSTE0faWKkSDH1QciPiMwKfqLXoqfEOm-BFBqEkJw-apsYT6ZKFyh-sN5ITDMZl6RX/s1600/IsisIndex.jpg" height="320" width="169" /></a><span class="s1"><u>About identification of elements:</u> </span>In the case of the Iseum, the identification of the main components didn’t seem very difficult to me. The different blocks stands out fairly clearly. Even before making (or agreeing on) assumptions on the use of the spaces, they look pretty much neatly separated from a geometric and structural point of view.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I’m using the first published plan of the Iseum ever published (Saint-non’s one) to illustrate the first division into the main elements. In order to avoid confusion, I have erased from the original map the letter-based naming convention that Saint-Non himself used. Next to the letters, I am listing in the legenda also word labels for the sake of clarity, following a widely accepted convention about the Iseum.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Some of the elements can be divided in sub-elements or grouped in super-elements (the relationship being very easily expressed through properties such as :isPart Of or :hasPart). Some of this relationships are very quickly recognisable looking at the plan. The element C (Temple), for example, can be divided into element H (pronaos) and I (cella). The latter, also contains a sub-element J (cellar). Likewise, space G can be divided in several sub-elements.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bj43h9gEO2g3iS5XnuYIraNPWvyAXnOA00lei3n6V7BUtMdCBAib-3nUA13_PpQhy8C8Y6q5DB6yDCFAH1fi0GSp4OMozyLOYjPs_uLSZFqnCjqjqTfZN1mDVrKTUfX02c2VtfbXjJUS/s1600/IsisTempleColours.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bj43h9gEO2g3iS5XnuYIraNPWvyAXnOA00lei3n6V7BUtMdCBAib-3nUA13_PpQhy8C8Y6q5DB6yDCFAH1fi0GSp4OMozyLOYjPs_uLSZFqnCjqjqTfZN1mDVrKTUfX02c2VtfbXjJUS/s1600/IsisTempleColours.jpg" height="263" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Close up of the Temple of Isis</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">However, buildings are not flat, and spaces are not divided only along an horizontal axis. If we look at a cross-section of the Iseum, then we will notice that the Temple is not only made by pronaos and cella, but also by a podium and a roof. And the Purgatorium has a ground level room as well as an underground one.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Last, we can hypothesise the existence of a second story for at least one of the rooms of the private area, although it isn’t in any plan or blueprint of the Iseum.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So, the whole list of the elements in which I have divided the Iseum is a bit longer than the one showed above, but it is probably not interesting to publish it here.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
If reading this post you have started mumbling things like: “do a roof and a room belong to the same category”? “what about stairs?” “what about the altars and the statues?”, I know exactly that feeling and this is why I have spent a few nightly hours searching for some convincing answers (that I will publish soon).<span class="s1"></span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-26182202098469174332014-03-31T04:00:00.000-07:002014-03-31T04:00:11.238-07:00If you love someone, let them go: the House of Orpheus and its dataset<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_M1fUsMNeCt4a-U3KmmDefp_m6ivAByBapC1rvCxYxXkvkd572wLNTxp9Qrglwwr0vIxsPqIl4OMnGmN3tDb8bo-3f7CakxAmd2kvehJ88LlosCBQA778ARLPIeeS59PAAWg_CA8sXlJa/s1600/image010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_M1fUsMNeCt4a-U3KmmDefp_m6ivAByBapC1rvCxYxXkvkd572wLNTxp9Qrglwwr0vIxsPqIl4OMnGmN3tDb8bo-3f7CakxAmd2kvehJ88LlosCBQA778ARLPIeeS59PAAWg_CA8sXlJa/s1600/image010.jpg" height="249" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Old undated photograph courtesy of the <br />Society of Antiquaries, Fox Collection<br />from <a href="http://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R6/6%2014%2020.htm" target="_blank">Pompeiiinpictures</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I was initially planning to work on two examples of Pompeian buildings: the Iseum and the House of Orpheus. I find them both very interesting for different reasons, and I have for them that emotional attachment that 3D modellers develop for the buildings they have been working on.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have seen them in Pompeii, I have taken measurements and pictures, drawn maps. However, after a more practical approach to my timetable (i.e. looking at an actual calendar), I have suddenly realised that the modelling of the Iseum alone is going to take the entire 2014. There is no really room left for a second model. It wasn’t easy to give up part of my research, but it wasn’t even a choice. Although I am not modelling the House of Orpheus, I think that the amount of data I collected so far on that building (and the related artefacts) can still play a role in my PhD.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have recently started the very hard task of drafting my ontology for cultural heritage, having as a main reference my own model of the Iseum. I have quickly discovered how easy it is, in such circumstances, to think of something that turns out to be very much <i>ad hoc</i> for one single case study. Orpheus’ dataset is a good way to double check if my categories work not just for the Iseum, but can be reasonably applied to at least one other Pompeian building (that belongs to a complete different category).</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">On the one hand the House of Orpheus is a fairly typical Pompeian middle sized household. On the other hand, there is quite a lot of information missing. Only the ground floor survived (while the existence of at least a second floor is strongly suggested by the remains of stairs), and, for a few spaces, there is still no agreement on their use in Roman times. </span></div>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Being a more ambiguous context than the Iseum, it points out much more clearly what is the weight of the assumptions in our way to describe (or even look at) an ancient building, and it reminds me that I should try to keep descriptions and interpretations as much separate as possible. </span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-75717518211438930102014-03-30T03:00:00.000-07:002014-04-06T09:59:09.697-07:00Lured by the sistrum: the choice of the Iseum<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTN_EuNcaFKUFezNuttRB_N8Mhl1LZCPdOSPNa0f-z3Ti4PI0Gok6szxnLPB6SH0HDOSi-zAuiZ9K0HIUeUmtQCTDgfJu7CAMCs673gEBnkw8AEn3MHZT9vgO799NILdznUW80svUGheL/s1600/9907280008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTN_EuNcaFKUFezNuttRB_N8Mhl1LZCPdOSPNa0f-z3Ti4PI0Gok6szxnLPB6SH0HDOSi-zAuiZ9K0HIUeUmtQCTDgfJu7CAMCs673gEBnkw8AEn3MHZT9vgO799NILdznUW80svUGheL/s1600/9907280008.jpg" height="209" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Francesco Piranesi, The Temple of Isis at Pompeii</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: center;">If you have ever met me in person, it is very likely that I have mentioned the Temple of Isis in Pompeii, at a certain point. Even if you didn’t ask about it. Even if, to be honest, there was little (or no) connection with the conversation topic.</span><br />
To be precise, the area I’m working on, experimenting with the potentiality of RDF applied to 3D environments, is the Pompeian Iseum. The sacred complex includes, besides the proper temple, other public spaces for the cult, and the private spaces where (probably) the isiac priest(s) used to live.<br />
<br />
There are many reasons behind my choice.<br />
First, the digital unification of one of the Iseum’s rooms (the Ekklesiaterium) was the case study for my MA dissertation in Digital Humanities at King’s College London. The Iseum, in fact, has one of the richest and best preserved collections of artefacts and decorations that are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Naples. The corpus is so relevant that it has a <a href="http://cir.campania.beniculturali.it/museoarcheologiconazionale/percorso/nel-museo/P_RA24" target="_blank">dedicated space</a> within the Museum itself.<br />
<br />
Besides the conclusions of my dissertation, the Iseum is certainly the groups of buildings in Pompeii I am most familiar with. Moreover, I have already collected a personal archive of digital resources, partly produced by myself (such as digital pictures and measurements) partly found in online repository, partly digitised from printed sources. While researching for my MA dissertation, I obtained access to areas of the Iseum that are usually interdict to the public (such as the interior of the temple, the interior of the ekklesiasterium and the purgatorium) as well as to documents that are relatively rare (such as the original drawings by John Soane, at the <a href="http://www.soane.org/" target="_blank">Soane Museum</a> and the 1941’s illustrated publication by Elia and the <a href="http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/library/" target="_blank">Warbourg Institute</a>). I thought it was a good idea to capitalise the information that I gathered and to produce a 3D visualisation able (among other things) to show and make virtually explorable, parts of the Iseum that are usually unaccessible to the average visitor.<br />
<br />
Another reason is that the Iseum was one of the first excavated complex, so it is featured in many accounts, records, watercolours and guide books.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7wQvLc6jhyphenhyphen9wRGuiiR1XaRRIwNMkgRbIaDvKVuR6Xz01fbQDLH5HlMdlDxM0EwsZ5R5fsK5diGRWpVhyphenhyphenXagmoLlERuLpRBrC9uf16PNewyUPbwfc7REQ3a08RvGjkIS6Ul9WMq3iqgVaE/s1600/silent_movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7wQvLc6jhyphenhyphen9wRGuiiR1XaRRIwNMkgRbIaDvKVuR6Xz01fbQDLH5HlMdlDxM0EwsZ5R5fsK5diGRWpVhyphenhyphenXagmoLlERuLpRBrC9uf16PNewyUPbwfc7REQ3a08RvGjkIS6Ul9WMq3iqgVaE/s1600/silent_movie.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Imaginary interior of the Temple of Isis in the Italian movie</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0003489/" target="_blank">Gli ultimi giorni di Pompeii</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">From http://ithankyouarthur.blogspot.co.uk/</span></td></tr>
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In addition, when the place was dug up, the site was still personal property of the Bourbon King and he hired very skilled professional from the Neapolitan Academy of Fine Arts to produce a visual documentation of various features of the building(s) as they were when they had been unearthed. Some of these engravings (now exhibited at the Museum of Naples) are the best information we have about some elements that do not exist anymore.<br />
The fact that the Temple of Isis and the Iseum appear so often in official and unofficial literature about Pompeii, is not merely a matter of “age”.<br />
The temple captured the attention and the imagination of many visitors. Its Egyptianising flavor made it look mysterious, if not slightly sinister. It became quickly an iconic building in Pompeii, and it is featured in many novels (such as the hugely popular Bulwer Lytton’s one) and even peplum movies.<br />
<br />
As interpretations and narratives connected to ancient heritage, are part of what I want to represent, the Iseum seemed to confirm its relevance under this respect too.<br />
<br />
The Pompeian Iseum has been very often reproduced. Francesco Piranesi, for example, has studied the place and its architecture in depth. However, it is very seldom shown in its completeness, most of the visual interpretations focusing on the Temple and the Purgatorium alone. My model aims to represent all the different components of the Iseum, (potentially) allowing the investigation of their visual and functional interactions.<br />
<br />
On top of these very sensible reasons, there is a more irrational one: the Iseum, in its charming funkiness and lack of symmetry, simply rocks (but I can’t write that in my PhD).Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-76808255505737917922014-03-29T04:00:00.000-07:002014-03-29T04:00:02.785-07:00Let's get practical: a digital research journal<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEEN4_wx-PNjBO0MCzhvMJkYR4bLoKBQrWWrl6BAVQK4gZYOGMGeutOag7Y4PZN4hNAymhhvarrAmEf4prh19jJi5mjdf1CMhC3JTSUm7ovZu42clcNMKV-YP5TMeE9aozF37Fmy_cNpj/s1600/457729003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEEN4_wx-PNjBO0MCzhvMJkYR4bLoKBQrWWrl6BAVQK4gZYOGMGeutOag7Y4PZN4hNAymhhvarrAmEf4prh19jJi5mjdf1CMhC3JTSUm7ovZu42clcNMKV-YP5TMeE9aozF37Fmy_cNpj/s1600/457729003.jpg" height="200" width="193" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">After a year spent reading a lot, meeting people, finding out that all my good ideas had already been much better explored by someone else, and, last, after passing the upgrade, I though it was time to start thinking of the practical side of what I am going to do with my 3D visualisation and the RDF ontology.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
To prevent the terrifying feeling that hits you at the end of the third year when you are supposed to retire into a cave and spend 6 month writing no-stop (basically degrading all primary needs to a secondary ones), I have decided to take some notes during the process. Hopefully, it will make the process easier and more transparent. They are preliminary thoughts and they are very likely to be a bit green and even clumsy. All going well, they will be refined during the next two years, also thanks to the feedback I receive. So, all comments are very welcome (and actually useful).</div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-46036013661035062642013-11-22T07:05:00.002-08:002013-11-22T07:37:35.049-08:00"Strange and half-disagreeable"<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9tT5FpQGWxjIR3pbw3egIWSQu7a0K5VUZGvA_GjLrXPful29qm_EmEOAC2FPaAqNKNlE_llHyv-Xi4se-J-02iB4m2ysV1sFEJe8Jn2Zrhyphenhyphen9kZ4d4UQ292ldrhKJE2nUP681tYLFL8Fr/s1600/763px-Johann_Heinrich_Wilhelm_Tischbein_007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9tT5FpQGWxjIR3pbw3egIWSQu7a0K5VUZGvA_GjLrXPful29qm_EmEOAC2FPaAqNKNlE_llHyv-Xi4se-J-02iB4m2ysV1sFEJe8Jn2Zrhyphenhyphen9kZ4d4UQ292ldrhKJE2nUP681tYLFL8Fr/s320/763px-Johann_Heinrich_Wilhelm_Tischbein_007.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="p1">
<i>Goethe in the Roman Campagna, J. </i><span class="s1"><i>Tischbein</i><br />from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Heinrich_Wilhelm_Tischbein_007.jpg" target="_blank">wikipedia</a></span></div>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I want to start my hypothetical Guest Book with a very popular visitor: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Goethe visited Pompeii and Herculaneum quite at an early stage of the excavations, in March 1787. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">It is not easy to tell if he enjoyed the experience. If we look at the words Goethe used (and, being a poet, he probably picked them carefully and precisely) to describe Pompeii, we’ll find many terms with quite explicit negative connotations: «narrow», «cramped», «small». In the end, he and his companions received a “strange and half-disagreeable impression of this mummified town”. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">What disturbed Goethe so deeply? We cannot possibly say. Maybe just the mismatch between the «actual» Pompeii and the image of it that he had in his mind. In other words, Pompeii was not “Classical” or, even better, “Neoclassical” enough compared to Goethe expectations. It is also true that, as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pompeii-Fact-Fiction-Wolfgang-Leppmann/dp/B00DCFJMY0" target="_blank">Leppmann</a> remembers, when Goethe visited Pompeii many of the most iconic buildings, especially the big villas and temples, where still to be uncovered. The only major temple visible was, probably, the temple of Isis. I bet that its asymmetry and the slightly chaotic ensemble of architectonic features are among the things that quite bothered Goethe.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">However, after a couple of years, Goethe writes in his journals that “he really does not know of anything more interesting” of Pompeii. What is particularly remarkable (and maybe slightly amusing) is that, as <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pompeii-Imagination-Rediscovery-Classical-Presences/dp/0199569363" target="_blank">Fitzon</a> says, the second entry in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Journey" target="_blank">Goethe’s Journal</a> is not connected to any new visit to Pompeii. It is more Goethe editing (not just aesthetically but also conceptually) his journal for the large audience. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznHpPJ1xSWKlLZNAie13z4X-flQ3ne19k3wwWuQpsJOqmlBggp0gylh9taKx-1iCzDpbNM-l9o2hk4xg_AEp2FKTd5niMdPe5eIdl8GocKpbis5S3Nr73-_7L22fxlwcz1cCPzX-XVabG/s1600/Bury_Goethe_Freundeskreis_g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznHpPJ1xSWKlLZNAie13z4X-flQ3ne19k3wwWuQpsJOqmlBggp0gylh9taKx-1iCzDpbNM-l9o2hk4xg_AEp2FKTd5niMdPe5eIdl8GocKpbis5S3Nr73-_7L22fxlwcz1cCPzX-XVabG/s320/Bury_Goethe_Freundeskreis_g.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goethe and his friends,<br />
F. Bury</td></tr>
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<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Did he see, after his visit, something new that made him reconsider his position? Or did he just feel that it was his duty as a member of the cultural intelighenzia to show enthusiasm for such an archaeological treasure, even though he didn’t actually enjoy the visit. In other words, was Goethe experiencing the same sort of schizophrenic reaction that is still quite common among contemporary tourists: a mix of disappointment, wonder and guilt?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Again, we do not know. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">According to his journal, the visit to the museum of Portici might have changed quite considerably his perception of the whole experience. After the visit to Portici, Goethe says he could finally populate, at least in his imagination, the empty houses and temples with objects. And I believe that putting eventually together buildings and artefacts could actually be an enormous added value. Much before his contemporaries, Goethe seems to be very impressed by everyday items such as lamps and candelabra. If I compare his words with the answers to the questionnaires my respondents gave me about the British Museum exhibition, it seems that Goethe understood much earlier than others how much Pompeii was going to change the way the public thinks of the Past, shifting the interest from the exceptional piece of art to the everyday lives of our ancestors.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Goethe enthusiasm for Pompeii was refreshed, many years later, by his encounter with the young painter Wilhelm Zahn. His account of the first meeting with Goethe is quite entertaining. But that’s another story...</span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-49194569544805429952013-10-23T14:50:00.000-07:002013-10-23T14:50:21.253-07:00A Pompeian Guestbook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05k15l0deRRxrUxX4y4BKeAZDOx0_p7lmtwncqO34M7Oswp6HBY3Kqrv1pLOJIYQ3NLuP-gNSuFT5zK2Bw_Bv8CcWWKpTO82lek77mh-U263s5z0G-hIekvSHVwdFssQ63ZMyXkRKCi2Z/s1600/PNP_guestbook-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05k15l0deRRxrUxX4y4BKeAZDOx0_p7lmtwncqO34M7Oswp6HBY3Kqrv1pLOJIYQ3NLuP-gNSuFT5zK2Bw_Bv8CcWWKpTO82lek77mh-U263s5z0G-hIekvSHVwdFssQ63ZMyXkRKCi2Z/s320/PNP_guestbook-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
One of the reasons I have chosen Pompeii as a case study is because of its popularity. In the past 250 years, many people have visited the excavations (and the Museum) and more than someone has decided to leave a record of their impressions. So, I have access to an interesting, heterogeneous and multimedia corpus of interpretations of Pompeii and its artefacts, from 1748 to present day.<br />
I want to compare how the reception of Pompeii has been changing through time and try to point out what are the variables that influenced these changes.<br />
I have decided to start with the interpretations of Pompeii that come from writers, intellectuals and historical personalities. I am aware that the experience of these particular witnesses is likely to have been very different from the regular visitor's one. Not only they were probably treated as honorable guests, but they also had a cultural background that cannot be representative of their average contemporaries.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, the travel notes of persons like Goethe or Dickens, are certainly easier to find and access than the private journals of non-famous people. I would also say that they tend to be quite well written. What I mean is that writers and artists have the habit of describing things in detail and to record their feelings quite precisely. Furthermore, these people seldom were really writing for their private journals. They knew they were actually targeting a large public, and they were aware that their view of Pompeii would have shaped the expectations (and even the opinions) of the their connationals.<br />
<br />
I am starting from the assumption that popular artists were kind of opinion leaders, and that they were certainly influenced by their own background culture but, at the same time, they were actively influencing it.<br />
The list of members of the intelligentsia who went to Pompeii and wrote (or painted or drew) about it is very long: Madame de Staël, Mozart, Stendhal, Keats, Byron, Gautier and many others<br />
<br />
Is this process still ongoing? Who are today the people we (implicitly) entrust to shape our interpretations of Ancient Cultural Heritage?Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-86932467914675512882013-10-14T02:32:00.000-07:002013-10-14T02:38:48.265-07:00The look in their eyes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXs6QdbtKDovvds2o4zRwh0i4SekzBoiPunFckkGKvXO4HmBRqxrOvMveBnQ_mjM4jPJRvG8yf2d0KZ9AjdzRgmTXt1Wiod6pp3COqULXHR7DUgP4W0nMGvjSZj3FsMezFz9RvIaWu_R6N/s1600/ALRIVes0446papiri5dancers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXs6QdbtKDovvds2o4zRwh0i4SekzBoiPunFckkGKvXO4HmBRqxrOvMveBnQ_mjM4jPJRvG8yf2d0KZ9AjdzRgmTXt1Wiod6pp3COqULXHR7DUgP4W0nMGvjSZj3FsMezFz9RvIaWu_R6N/s320/ALRIVes0446papiri5dancers.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bronze statues from the Villa of the Papyri<br />
Archaeological Museum of Naples</td></tr>
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According to my personal taste, one of the most beautiful artefacts on display at the British Museum's exhibition was the bronze statue of the dancer from the Villa of the Papyri. The statue is part of a group, but even on its own is a remarkable piece.<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">When I was looking at it, I overheard the second conversation I want to share here. One of the two persons involved commented, pointing at the dancer, how much she liked “the new kind of statues” because, unlike “the old ones”, they had their eyes painted.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I found this dialogue (that I'm considering representative of a common opinion that I've heard several times in different circumstances) quite relevant from the reception point of view for two reasons:</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1) It looks like the idea that ancient statues were monochrome and with blank eyes is still very common. It doesn’t matter how many books, tv documentaries and journals have tried to show otherwise in the last years. This misconception is strong and still make us implicitly reject any other image of the Past. I can see that, compared to the majority of the ancient statues (especially marble ones), having human-like eyes makes the Group of the Dancers (and other statues from the Villa of the Papyri) fascinating for their being an exception. But they are an archaeological exception (few statues with eyes can be seen today), not an historical exception (few statues with eyes could be seen in the past).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As a member of the public myself, I remember to have thought, the first time I saw the statues in the museum of Naples, that I loved the contrast between the almost-black colour of the statue and the whiteness of the eyes. I found it magnetic. So much so that I was (irrationally) a bit disappointed in discovering that, as it happens quite often, the bronze statues used to be painted. In the eyes of my XXI century aesthetic sensibility, a “whole black” would have been much more elegant, wouldn’t it?</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdh_z75ZTLB5DSkRniWGPIIgn4oi_DeQsjCquXQFR8pjUpWVaUpnXcR8uEYHTkzepuke6cyzvb_RYwHXHjgxgi7FZekGSwxHNVCNnTswkEwr6qLqzvZAPbBPXLiBECgP1mCbIvdZNZXEsX/s1600/danzatrice_GRANDE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdh_z75ZTLB5DSkRniWGPIIgn4oi_DeQsjCquXQFR8pjUpWVaUpnXcR8uEYHTkzepuke6cyzvb_RYwHXHjgxgi7FZekGSwxHNVCNnTswkEwr6qLqzvZAPbBPXLiBECgP1mCbIvdZNZXEsX/s320/danzatrice_GRANDE.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The statue of the dancer displayed<br />
at the British Museum exhibition</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="s1">Obviously I’m not judging the competence of the persons in the museum. I think that one of the goals of a museum is to attract people that are not expert in the fields. The many they menage to reach, the more successful is an exhibition, in my opinion. What I want to remark is how <b>an inaccurate image of the past can be much stronger and more permanent than a non-visual accurate information</b>. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">2) The dialogue implied that there is a linear progression is art that goes from less good to better but also from less realistic to more realistic (the statues with the eyes that are better than the others as they are more "realistic" were assumed to be more recent than the one with blank eyes). So, in a way, not only a more recent piece of art is supposed to be intrinsically better that an older one, but it is also assumed that this progression towards perfection overlaps entirely with the pursue of realism. It sounds like ancient painters were just not too good at drawing; as if they were not able to paint something with the same idea of proportion, perspective or lighting that we consider “right”.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This idea of art, that has probably been slowly challenged by movements such as fauvism, impressionism and cubism, was still dominant at the time of the first excavation in Pompeii and Herculaneum. </span>This is exactly why many frescoes that were judged “not artistically worthy” because distant from the common idea of what a painting should look like, have been destroyed without many regrets.</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This is also the same feeling beyond the disappointment experienced by many of the artists and art lovers that visited Pompeii in the XVIII and XIX century. But will talk more about that later. </span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-74108309765444177422013-10-13T03:46:00.003-07:002013-10-13T03:46:41.011-07:00Things and Images of Things<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHb7gyah_ousayUGON3qk3eXSHM3d1bK0gebB9cDI_XKbIbR_8zUxg-IZf4kPLUAD5-pU_rQ9gMTf5yXgOr-z8TIXTH1sDWy3RZ_d9VkeDIx0uF8qe-Fn_tH-fpeHaaJYfyybfhyAuVAY/s1600/breadshop2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHb7gyah_ousayUGON3qk3eXSHM3d1bK0gebB9cDI_XKbIbR_8zUxg-IZf4kPLUAD5-pU_rQ9gMTf5yXgOr-z8TIXTH1sDWy3RZ_d9VkeDIx0uF8qe-Fn_tH-fpeHaaJYfyybfhyAuVAY/s320/breadshop2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pompeian Fresco representing a give away of bread<br />
Detail</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I saw the British Museum exhibition <i>Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum</i> the first time last April, with a crowd of archeologists. I wanted to see it again and take my time to look at how things were exhibited and communicated. When I was there with my notebook, I couldn’t help paying attention to what people were saying looking at the artefacts.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">As museum studies have largely proved, going to museum’s exhibitions is a social activity. And part of the pleasure is in discussing and commenting the items seen together.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2">
I found two of the conversations I overheard particularly relevant, although in a different way.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The first one needs a little contextualisation first. The BM exhibited some of the objects next to their representations in frescoes. I have noticed that the audience liked this kind of display very much and it was explicitly brought up during my interviews. I can only agree that it was very effective, from a communicative point of view. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrSnp1ClcbPkTNhDjwdTtaRV43cKXLenFCr1z20s9fGdfH1KhERCPfkd92n3sd_4N8Z-Ms-3FSKg3Ae2ofw9C_MYMlyRA2R7etvz3Q4dkErz5otnv-SKLpmRpnj2GHjWbAFY5kVBnWSVY/s1600/pompeii-exhibition-a-preserved-loaf-of-bread-from-pompeii1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrSnp1ClcbPkTNhDjwdTtaRV43cKXLenFCr1z20s9fGdfH1KhERCPfkd92n3sd_4N8Z-Ms-3FSKg3Ae2ofw9C_MYMlyRA2R7etvz3Q4dkErz5otnv-SKLpmRpnj2GHjWbAFY5kVBnWSVY/s320/pompeii-exhibition-a-preserved-loaf-of-bread-from-pompeii1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carbonised loaf of Bread. British Museum Website</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
The connection between the two items immediately made them both more interesting and, in a way, I think it made them both more “real”, as if they were baking up each other. My first reaction too was to research the similarities between the ancient thing and its depiction. And the carbonised loaf of bread, which is already one of the most well known and powerful Pompeian finds, looks indeed very alike the ones showed in the related fresco. There was another quite successful example with actual silverware and painted one. The comments, in both cases, were really favorable.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">On the one hand, it supports my idea that showing connections between things enhances their informative value. On the other hand, I wonder if it is appropriate for an archaeological museum to disseminate the idea that ancient frescoes show exact and realistic (in the may we intend it today) representation of things and places. In other words, are frescoes and other pieces of art documentation of the past?</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7iYiXYdQXlvX1j-gBkOLdS5vQPhI-Rq3cHIxxbRw9u2c71QdanBdrEWezzViR6wnIW9wQHPZwyRTpdsrcO8QTTYfrMio4kPDBvIV4WABt03uG293CAWPE7B2uKCD58HpyLkw8qM93OJEl/s1600/Metropolitan_wall_painting_Roman_1C_BC_9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7iYiXYdQXlvX1j-gBkOLdS5vQPhI-Rq3cHIxxbRw9u2c71QdanBdrEWezzViR6wnIW9wQHPZwyRTpdsrcO8QTTYfrMio4kPDBvIV4WABt03uG293CAWPE7B2uKCD58HpyLkw8qM93OJEl/s320/Metropolitan_wall_painting_Roman_1C_BC_9.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresco from the Villa of P. F. Sinistore, Boscoreale<br />
Now exhibited in the <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cubi/hd_cubi.htm">Metropolitan Museum</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I have seen in the <a href="http://www.museotaranto.org/web/index.php?area=1&page=home&id=0&lng=it">archeological museum of Taranto</a> the objects found in burials exhibited next to statues or paintings of the same age showing how those earrings, or pins or brooches were probably worn. I thought it was a very informative display, especially because many of the found objects were incomplete and not always easy to imagine in use. However, when I was studying 3D visualisation during my MA, I was warned against the temptation of considering artistic representations as a “proof” of the past. I do agree that a pictorial clue can be extremely useful but I also think that it can be a bit controversial, especially when we look at cultures that had a different idea of “naturalism” than we do. What should we think of the intricate and nearly impossible architectures represented in the Villa of Publio Fannio Sinistore? It is very unlikely that it is a “realistic” representation of the urban landscape of Campania. And what about ancient Egyptians walking and talking in pretty uncomfortable positions? </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Hence, I am not entirely sure a cultural institution like the British Museum should actually promote the idea of the one-to-one relationship between ancient artefact and their image in ancient art.</div>
<br />
Not even if it works sooooo well for the public.Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-59808441263690090932013-10-11T06:49:00.002-07:002013-10-13T04:06:04.370-07:00"We need a holiday, Terentius. Let's go to London"<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSyk12dwNDEggaucbCjORxsluj7hyphenhyphenwIO84jkHy1XYIdQCVsnX0UnbXPUjZp7I01s5ekp5hEjz1FjElHSoqBTNCNCGMYax9FjEG7E4BuU5ZLdbXB3eI3G1oe-CHGvRqsKB6bFGVo4jk6EKf/s1600/event_media-banner_med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSyk12dwNDEggaucbCjORxsluj7hyphenhyphenwIO84jkHy1XYIdQCVsnX0UnbXPUjZp7I01s5ekp5hEjz1FjElHSoqBTNCNCGMYax9FjEG7E4BuU5ZLdbXB3eI3G1oe-CHGvRqsKB6bFGVo4jk6EKf/s320/event_media-banner_med.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Promotional Image for the British Museum exhibition</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="s1">Being what people think and feel in front of Pompeian artefacts part of my research, the British Museum exhibition <i><a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/past_exhibitions/2013/pompeii_and_herculaneum.aspx">Life and Death in Herculaneum</a></i> sounded like a wonderful opportunity to observe the audience's behavior and conduct some interviews without flying to Campania.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I got very excited about this exhibition and, apparently, so did London as the tickets were quickly sold out. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The British Museum exhibition also allowed to compare different displays of the same artefact and their effectiveness. And, actually, the BM’s concept couldn’t be more different from the Museum of Naples’s one (where the majority of the items are usually exhibited).</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Unlike the Museum of Naples, were the artefacts are displayed with little or no contextual information, as they were able to be self explanatory, the BM has built the exhibition around the idea of «house». Many of the items were arranged accordingly, using spatial relationships to give a basic level of contextualisation.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEWM4W-hO5F1YJ8fXBc-FV6Vi3911HfxlHogPESk9ofw7Qsi3CbnEMHh7OFDhliucf2ndQmzk_0weKWU3k7qiWjPPAfzSWa3btvcHp1TIbJ0_regWrxzTURuGwukKY0MH3oXBQpNZuSy5/s1600/museum-audience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEWM4W-hO5F1YJ8fXBc-FV6Vi3911HfxlHogPESk9ofw7Qsi3CbnEMHh7OFDhliucf2ndQmzk_0weKWU3k7qiWjPPAfzSWa3btvcHp1TIbJ0_regWrxzTURuGwukKY0MH3oXBQpNZuSy5/s320/museum-audience.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum<br />
British Museum, 2013. Getty Images</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="s1">Before comparing some aspects of the two museum environments (which are indeed very different historically and structurally), I want to discuss what people told me about <i>Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, </i>starting with</span> few quick notes about the selection of my sample.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The BM audience is international and multicultural. I have tried to interview people that, according to a quick (and obviously unreliable) assessment, came from outside UK, because I was interested in hearing different «voices» about Pompeian artefacts. However, the foreigners I have tried to talk with often didn’t speak English at all. So, against my explicit commitment, almost the totality of my respondents are British or Americans. The people that were more willing to spend few minutes answering my questions were mostly the ones that have a bigger amount of spare time compared to the average population: retired and students.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">My special thanks go to a couple of ladies of the University of Third Age: the only ones that, at the end of the questionnaire, were a bit disappointed by its brevity...</span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993118884953906608.post-8042776580745925402013-10-10T06:42:00.001-07:002013-10-10T06:42:13.049-07:00An Introduction<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBfcutUJPvhD9KLQxhlOwnZkOnIclYH32gwdKQ_h2sIc4ITK8Q11B8wamjqWL9Pw2Q4-mFLocGcBUx1ok-mopijnvJkJ2O8Dh6uFmxazsDqtqt7pzTrF79PKFwBsRSeAmz84aoV5Mex0Xi/s1600/figura_femminile_saffo_grande.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBfcutUJPvhD9KLQxhlOwnZkOnIclYH32gwdKQ_h2sIc4ITK8Q11B8wamjqWL9Pw2Q4-mFLocGcBUx1ok-mopijnvJkJ2O8Dh6uFmxazsDqtqt7pzTrF79PKFwBsRSeAmz84aoV5Mex0Xi/s320/figura_femminile_saffo_grande.jpg" width="258" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woman with wax tablets (so called "Saffo")<br />
Archaeological Museum of Naples<br />
<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sappho_fresco_(from_Pompeii)">Wikimedia Commons</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I am a PhD student in Digital Humanities and Classics at King’s College London and this is a blog about my research. It is meant to be a digital notebook to fix ideas and share them with colleagues and other people interested in the same topics. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I study 3D visualisation of archeological heritage, more specifically Pompeian buildings and artefacts. I am focusing on some methodological issues of 3D modelling such as the documentation of the research process and the representation of multiple hypotheses. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I think that introducing 3D visualisations in the study of the Ancient World would change and enrich our knowledge of the Past, and I’m trying to find a way to make it possible and easy.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Here I will discuss museum exhibitions, archaeological sites, my own interviews to the public, old and not-so-old accounts of visits to Pompeii and Herculaneum, the image of these places that has been disseminated by cultural products (literature, post cards, movies), touristic guides and official excavation records. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I will do my best to put together again, logically and visually, things that have been separated many years ago but should be seen and understood together because they complete each other and give sense to each other.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I am interested in the cognitive and emotional relationship that people build with these ancient artefacts and how digital technologies can represent and enhance such a bond. This is a complicated way to say that I want to understand why and how people fall so deeply in love with Pompeii. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I like to talk, and write, about the idea of «place» and its existence in geography, perception, memory and imagination. And I will probably try to convince you that the best way to engage the audience with the Past is through storytelling. My cunning plan is to actually tell you a lot of stories about Pompeii. You probably won’t believe them at the beginning, but I promise they will be true. Almost all of them.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
Valeria Vitalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07575266222361802997noreply@blogger.com0