[Air-L] seminar: Visualisation and Digitisation – alternative approaches to traditional research in the Arts

[Natalia Grincheva]

For those who are in Australia this seminar might be of interest:

http://www.transformative-technologies.net/event/ttru-seminar1/
Transformative Technologies Research Unit Research

*Seminar*

*Visualisation and Digitisation – alternative approaches to traditional
research in the Arts*

*Room 216B, **John Medley Building (West)*

*21st June, 1-2.30pm*

This is the first in a monthly series of workshops/seminars organised by
the Transformative Technologies Research Unit. The sessions will be
informal, and presentations will be brief to allow for discussion. All
welcome.

*3D Visualisation Technologies and immersive experiences in reconstructed
archaeological sites – Simon Young*

As affordable 3D visualisation technology improves at a breathtaking pace,
digital renderings of ancient cityscapes are now commonly employed in
archaeological presentations and publications. With the development of a
variety of head mounted virtual reality devices, many of which are
currently hitting the market, it will not be long before this technology is
used for archaeological demonstrations. Yet, as we strive for ever more
photorealistic digital simulations of the ancient world, we must pause to
assess the real usefulness of employing such technology to communicate
archaeological theories and findings, and consider potential pitfalls that
we may fall into in our haste to embrace these exciting new developments.

*Simon Young* is a PhD student in Classical archaeology working on observer
experiences of ancient cityscapes. During his research Simon has become
acquainted with 3D visualisation software (and through the use of
photogrammetry and 3D printing) and has created archaeologically correct
digital reconstructions of ancient cityscapes. He has also incorporated
Virtual Reality devices (particularly the Oculus Rift) to experience
ancient cities on site. For further information about Simon’s immersive
reality projects, go to his Lithodomos site. <http://lithodomos.net/>

*Digitalising the Roman Campagna – Lisa Beaven and Katrina Grant*

In their presentation Lisa and Kat will discuss the geo-mapping
project, Digitalising
the Roman Campagna, which is being developed in conjunction with the
British School at Rome library. The aim ultimately is to create a digital
map of the Roman Campagna that could function as a database and repository
of information about both the classical and early modern Campagna. The aim
is to take two rare, and rarely seen, maps of the Roman Campagna in the
early modern period and transform them into new forms of technology and
interdisciplinary resources for generations of scholars. The two maps
digitalised so far are Giacomo Filippo Ameti’s Il Lazio con le sue
conspicue Strade Antiche e Moderne (1693), and Giovani Battista Cingolani
della Pergola’s Topografia Geometrica dell’Agro Romano, of 1704 (second
edition). One of the primary aims of the project is to connect to the map
some of the 1,200 photographs of the Campagna, also in the British School
at Rome.



*Lisa Beaven* is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the ‘Change’ Program of
the ARC Centre for the History of Emotions led by Professor Charles Zika.
Her publications include An Ardent Patron: Cardinal Camillo Massimo and his
artistic and antiquarian circle: Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin and Diego
Velazquez was (2010). Her research interests are concentrated in the area
of patronage and art collecting in seventeenth century Rome, digital
mapping, and relics. Lisa is also a research investigator with the
Transformative Technologies Research Unit.



*Katrina Grant *is the editor of the Melbourne Art Network. Her
publications include ‘Hedge Theatres of Lucca’ in Art, Site and Spectacle
(ed. David R. Marshall), 2007, ‘Planting ‘Italian Gusto’ in ‘a Gothick
Country’: The influence of Filippo Juvarra on William Kent’, in Roma
Brittannica: Art Patronage and Cultural Exchange in Eighteenth-century
Rome, 2011, and ‘Gardens in Lucca’, in Place: An Interdisciplinary
e-journal, vol. 1, 2007.