Thirteenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

My current research considers the spatial opportunities of archival information; a process I refer to as “embodying the archive”. This work begins with the LiDAR scanning of existing historical interiors and ultimately develops a variety of mixed reality experiences from their data sets. A recent exhibition of this work entitled “Web Model Dot Space” re-presented the scanned interior of a historical Detroit Church as a floating, immersive, performative “dome”. This “dome” incorporates historical Baroque trompe-l’œil techniques and contemporary scanning and printing technologies - resulting in an environment which graphically re-presents an existing interior in new ways. This “real interior’’ becomes a type of immersive “faux finish” wherein new opportunities for interpretation emerge. The pictorial mapping of digital building information onto a “dome” correlates with a Baroque illusionistic painting technique known as “Quadratura” – wherein complex building geometries are painted onto an otherwise simple surface in order to augment reality. This approach is most famously demonstrated within the dome of Sant’Ignazio at Campus Martius in Rome, where Andrea Pozzo has “extended” the built environment through techniques in trompe-l’œil, sotto in sù, and what Norman Klein terms “scripted space”. Techniques such as these provide important lessons on how image-based multimedia can cultivate distinct experiences within Architecture and Interior Design; fields which are grappling with the archetypical sameness of image+media surface proliferation. This paper demonstrates historical linkages, contemporary workflows, and case study evidence on how image-based environments can respond to topical threads regarding Multimodality, Contemporary Technology, Perspective and Image Manipulation, and beyond.