Experts in the Visual Arts and Humanities in the Department of Digital Humanities display how digital visualisation and virtual worlds, containing rich historical materials, transform research, teaching and contemporary artistic practice. Ancient Roman villas at Boscoreale and Oplontis, van Eyck's Arnolfini Marriage, Dublin’s Abbey Theatre of 1904 and Mondrian's Paris studios are subjects of some of the highlighted, innovative computer-based projects by staff from the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s and their postgraduate students reading Masters modules in Applied Visualisation in the Arts, Humanities and Cultural Heritage; Digital Arts and Culture; Digital Visualisation; and a Summer School in Virtual Restoration and Reconstruction. Also on show, are historically-influenced works by artist, Michael Takeo Magruder.
On Friday, 26 October 2012 an interdisciplinary panel explores how historical research and contemporary creative practice can reciprocally stimulate new ideas and approaches. The latest books published by members of the Department of Digital Humanities to be launched on this occasion include: The Preservation of Complex Objects, Vol.1: Visualisations and Simulations (Portsmouth, 2012), Paradata and Transparency in Historical Visualization (Ashgate, 2012) and Michael Takeo Magruder: (re)mediation_s 2000-2010 (Peterborough Museum, 2012). The new, Chinese version of the London Charter for the Computer-based Visualisation of Cultural Heritage (Tsinghua, 2012) is the latest manifestation of the international reach of the Department’s advocacy for good practice in this area of scholarship.
Curated and presented by:
Drew Baker, Anna Bentkowska-Kafel, Martin Blazeby, Hugh Denard and Michael Takeo Magruder, Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London
Drew Baker is Research Fellow within the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. A founding member of the King's Visualisation Lab, he has worked in the field of 3D visualisation and interpretation of archaeology and history since 1997. He has specialised in 3D modelling specifically using interactive VRML and virtual world technologies. His primary area of interest is in using advanced technology to bring cultural history from traditional passive media into new, interactive media, transforming the user into an active participant though exploration of virtual worlds and artefacts; the process of developing such environments and interactions and the long-term preservation of digital cultural heritage.
Anna Bentkowska-Kafel is a freelance art historian and part-time lecturer in the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London where she teaches Masters modules in Digital Arts and Culture, and Digital Visualisation. She has a particular interest in digital imaging and the impact of computer graphics on representation and scholarly interpretation of art and architecture. She has been a committee member and editor for CHArt, Computers and the History of Art (www.chart.ac.uk) since 1999. Her most recent research is concerned with virtual artefacts, virtual touch and haptic computer interfaces.
Martin Blazeby is Research Fellow and a core member of King's Visualisation Lab (KVL) located in the Department of Digital Humanities. His main area of research focuses on architectural and archaeological visualisations of heritage sites which include 2D digital illustrations and 3D computer-generated reconstructions. Martin has assisted with excavations at the British School in Athens and has conducted on site research at Pompeii. His illustrations have been featured in numerous books, articles and online publications; he has also produced interactive museum exhibits in the UK and his visualisations have been displayed in exhibitions around the world and featured on television documentaries.
Hugh Denard is theatre historian and Lecturer in the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. He completed his Ph.D. on versions of Greek Tragedy by Irish writers, in the Department of Drama at Exeter, in 1997. In 1998 he moved to the School of Theatre Studies at the University of Warwick, where he taught students of Theatre and Performance Studies, coordinated the Theatre, Media and Text degree and worked as a researcher on the AHRC Theatre of Pompey Project. Hugh moved to King's College London, with the other members of the Visualisation Lab, in September 2005. In 2011 he was Visiting Research Fellow at the Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, where he studied the early Abbey Theatre and produced a research-based, mixed-media performance at the Samuel Beckett Theatre.
Michael Takeo Magruder (US/UK) is an internationally recognised visual artist and researcher based in the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London. He works with digital and new media including real-time data, immersive environments, mobile devices and virtual worlds. In the last 15 years, Michael's projects have been showcased in over 250 exhibitions in 30 countries, and his writings have been widely published. Michael's practice explores concepts ranging from media criticism and aesthetic journalism to digital formalism and computational aesthetics, deploying Information Age technologies and systems to examine our networked, media-rich world. For further information about his work, visit www.takeo.org
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