Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts. EVA 2019 Florence

The Publication is following the yearly Editions of EVA FLORENCE. The State of Art is presented regarding the Application of Technologies (in particular of digital type) to Cultural Heritage. The more recent results of the Researches in the considered Area are presented. Information Technologies of interest for Culture Heritage are presented: multimedia systems, data-bases, data protection, access to digital content, Virtual Galleries. Particular reference is reserved to digital images (Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts), regarding Cultural Institutions (Museums, Libraries, Palace - Monuments, Archaeological Sites). The International Conference includes the following Sessions: Strategic Issues; New Science and Culture Developments & Applications; New Technical Developments & Applications; Cultural Activities – Real and Virtual Galleries and Related Initiatives, Access to the Culture Information. One Workshop regards Innovation and Enterprise. The more recent results of the Researches at national and international level are reported in the Area of Technologies and Culture Heritage, also with experimental demonstrations of developed Activities

The concept of peace : tracing its development through three historical periods in the west using artistic and literacy evidence.

The purpose of this dissertation is to suggest that peace is an idea that changes throughout the history of the west, rather than to show how nations may achieve peace or to define what it is. It begins as a concept the power brokers refer to or represent in their own terms. In Rome the concept of peace expressed the emperor\u27s ability to end civil war. In Siena, the concept substantiated the Nine\u27s claim that communal prosperity and absence of regional wars had happened during their rule. By the Westphalia period the power brokers began to realize the populace was entering the realm of political discussion with ideas of how to organize society in a way that would obviate the need for war. The absence of great war held for a couple of hundred years, without expunging the possibility of war\u27s recurrence. During the world wars of the 20 th century, the voice of the populace against war grew too strong for the culture to avoid. These periods are watershed points in western history. The socio-political structure of Rome followed republic with empire. The Sienese period emerged from the western medieval era. The Westphalia period followed the Thirty Years\u27 War. The United Nations developed from the catastrophic 20 th -century world wars. It is possible to view the development of the concept of peace through cultural achievements in the arts, specifically painting and literature. As the culture evolved, the expressions of artists and writers gained more capacity to anticipate the direction in which the culture would move regarding peace. As power brokers found they must recognize the expressions of the people who were gaining influence over their own lives and the cultural directions the people wanted to follow, western culture itself ultimately advanced to the point in the 20 th century when war was not the only acceptable response to international tensions. The development of the concept of peace brought to the west an atmosphere favorable to the activities of the mind. The concept of peace opened up the culture to a development of the west\u27s collective qualities, which essentially were the measure of its humanity

Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts. EVA 2013 Florence

Important Information Technology topics are presented: multimedia systems, data-bases, protection of data, access to the content. Particular reference is reserved to digital images (2D, 3D) regarding Cultural Institutions (Museums, Libraries, Palace – Monuments, Archaeological Sites). The main parts of the Conference Proceedings regard: Strategic Issues, EC Projects and Related Networks & Initiatives, International Forum on “Culture & Technology”, 2D – 3D Technologies & Applications, Virtual Galleries – Museums and Related Initiatives, Access to the Culture Information. Three Workshops are related to: International Cooperation, Innovation and Enterprise, Creative Industries and Cultural Tourism

Para além da visibilidade e da monumentalidade : imagens fotográficas no espaço público : um estudo para dois casos, Terreiro do Paço-Lisboa, Times Square-Nova Iorque

Doutoramento em DesignThis thesis seeks to address the issue of retrieving / adapting the tradition of site-specific large-scale images, (other than images commercially motivated) to contemporary architectural spaces. To achieve this we discussed a conceptual framework to introduce the constitutive and operative concepts of visual public art and spatial politics. Then we made a historical overview of former uses of images in the public arena with special emphasis in the public visual art produced after 1960. Based on those operative concepts, historical framework and on the analytical tools developed during this study, we developed a methodology for designing sitespecific large-scale images in the public space. This methodology is aimed at guiding the production of largescale visual art sensible to the different contexts playing an important role in the becoming of the project, and to incite a sense of placeness on the sites for which large-scale images were proposed. In this study we produced and discussed a group of projects for large-scale images for the squares: Terreiro do Paço – Lisbon and Times Square – New York City. Those projects were guided by the same design method and with the objective of making visible the memory and the contemporaneity of the squares in study. The choice of sites with such different cultural and historical background, was instrumental for understanding the feasibility of a method intended to help the production of large-scale images set in urban environments, sensible and related to complex contexts. The choice of these squares is based on the fact that both squares are unavoidable representations of power (governmental, financial, commercial), a condition that was instrumental in our study for making clear the implications that the history, the public sphere and the public space have on the context and on the actors that have a decisive role in the production of visual art in the public space. The images proposed for the two squares were not confined to photographic images, yet they played a central role. Beyond their instrumental value for the discussion of the method proposed, those projects were concerned with the production of informed commentaries pertinent to the squares in study. To achieve this, the proposed projects made use of their size, monumentally and visibility for the creation of places that stimulate a dwelling experience sensible to the specificity of the place. As a result some projects unveiled new paths/uses for the design of largescale images in the contemporary public space.Esta tese pretende debater a questão de reaver a tradição do uso de imagens de grandes dimensões (outras que as imagens com motivação comercial) para os espaços arquitectónicos contemporâneos. Para alcançar estes objectivos, foi necessário entender a estrutura conceptual dos conceitos constitutivos e operativos da arte visual pública e da política do espaço. Seguidamente fizemos uma abordagem histórica dos usos de imagens no espaço público, com especial ênfase na arte pública produzida depois de 1960. Consequentemente, baseados nesses conceitos operativos, referências históricas e nos instrumentos analíticos desenvolvidos neste estudo, formulámos uma metodologia projectual para a criação de imagens de grandes dimensões no espaço público. Esta metodologia pretendeu ser um princípio orientador para a produção de arte visual de grandes dimensões, sensível aos diferentes contextos que têm um papel importante no devir do projecto, e se possível estimular um sentido de lugar nos locais para os quais as imagens de grandes dimensões foram criadas. Neste estudo, produzimos e discutimos um conjunto de projectos de imagens de grandes dimensões para as praças: Terreiro do Paço – Lisboa e Times Square – Nova Iorque. Estes projectos tiveram como princípio orientador o mesmo método projectual e foram planeados para tornar visível as questões significantes da memória e da contemporaneidade das praças em estudo. A escolha de locais com um contexto histórico tão diferente, foi instrumental para verificar a viabilidade de um método que tem a intenção de possibilitar a produção de imagens de grandes dimensões sensíveis à complexidade do contexto sobre o qual a sua existência depende. Além disso a escolha destas praças foi fundamentada no facto de ambas as praças serem inevitáveis representações do poder (governamental, financeiro, comercial). Uma condição que no nosso estudo foi instrumental para tornar claras as implicações que a história, a esfera pública e o espaço público têm no contexto e nos actores que têm um papel decisivo para o devir da arte visual nos espaços públicos. As imagens propostas para estas duas praças não foram restritas às imagens fotográficas, contudo estas tiveram um papel decisivo. Esses projectos, para além do seu valor instrumental na discussão do método proposto, visaram a produção de comentários esclarecidos sobre as praças em estudo, servindo-se da escala, monumentalidade e visibilidade inerente à natureza destes projectos, para a criação de lugares que estimulassem uma experiência de habitar sensível à especificidade do lugar. Consequentemente, alguns projectos revelaram novos rumos/usos para o design de imagens de grandes dimensões no espaço público contemporâneo

Aiding the conservation of two wooden Buddhist sculptures with 3D imaging and spectroscopic techniques

The conservation of Buddhist sculptures that were transferred to Europe at some point during their lifetime raises numerous questions: while these objects historically served a religious, devotional purpose, many of them currently belong to museums or private collections, where they are detached from their original context and often adapted to western taste. A scientific study was carried out to address questions from Museo d'Arte Orientale of Turin curators in terms of whether these artifacts might be forgeries or replicas, and how they may have transformed over time. Several analytical techniques were used for materials identification and to study the production technique, ultimately aiming to discriminate the original materials from those added within later interventions

Optimising Light Source Spectrum to Reduce the Energy Absorbed by Objects

Light is used to illuminate objects in the built environment. Humans can only observe light reflected from an object. Light absorbed by an object turns into heat and does not contribute to visibility. Since the spectral output of the new lighting technologies can be tuned, it is possible to imagine a lighting system that detects the colours of objects and emits customised light to minimise the absorbed energy. Previous optimisation studies investigated the use of narrowband LEDs to maximise the efficiency and colour quality of a light source. While these studies aimed to tune a white light source for general use, the lighting system proposed here minimises the energy consumed by lighting by detecting colours of objects and emitting customised light onto each coloured part of the object. This thesis investigates the feasibility of absorption-minimising light source spectra and their impact on the colour appearance of objects and energy consumption. Two computational studies were undertaken to form the theoretical basis of the absorption-minimising light source spectra. Computational simulations show that the theoretical single-peak spectra can lower the energy consumption up to around 38 % to 62 %, and double-peak test spectra can result in energy savings up to 71 %, without causing colour shifts. In these studies, standard reference illuminants, theoretical test spectra and coloured test samples were used. These studies are followed by the empirical evidence collected from two psychophysical experiments. Data from the experiments show that observers find the colour appearance of objects equally natural and attractive under spectrally optimised spectra and reference white light sources. An increased colour difference, to a certain extent, is found acceptable, which allows even higher energy savings. However, the translucent nature of some objects may negatively affect the results

The Chicano Mural Movement of the Southwest: Populist Public Art and Chicano Political Activism

This work examines an art movement that was a direct outgrowth of a populist civil rights movement of the late 1960’s in the Southwest United States. This art, the Chicano Murals created as part of el Movimiento in San Diego, California was intended primarily as a didactic communication medium to reach into the barrios and marginalized neighborhoods for the primary purpose of carrying a resistance message to the semiliterate mestizo population within. Its secondary purpose was to bring a message from within these minority neighborhoods outward to the privileged elite, both Anglo and Hispanic, that within the confines of the barrio there exists a culture and heritage that has value. The Chicano Murals were ubiquitous throughout the southwest United States with concentration of the art in those areas adjacent to the Mexican border. This work examines some of the murals, and the politics associated with their creation principally in San Diego, California, and some activities in Los Angeles, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. This dissertation posits that it has been well established that art in public space is often a contentious matter and when it also carries a contra message, as did the Chicano murals, it may be considered intrusive and abrasive. The social environment into which these murals were insinuated--the public sphere, the intellectual territory of high art and the elite system of private and government cultural patronage, are examined in the context of their effect upon the mural content and conversely, the effects of these murals upon diversity in the high art and museology of the United States

The Chicano Mural Movement of the Southwest: Populist Public Art and Chicano Political Activism

This work examines an art movement that was a direct outgrowth of a populist civil rights movement of the late 1960’s in the Southwest United States. This art, the Chicano Murals created as part of el Movimiento in San Diego, California was intended primarily as a didactic communication medium to reach into the barrios and marginalized neighborhoods for the primary purpose of carrying a resistance message to the semiliterate mestizo population within. Its secondary purpose was to bring a message from within these minority neighborhoods outward to the privileged elite, both Anglo and Hispanic, that within the confines of the barrio there exists a culture and heritage that has value. The Chicano Murals were ubiquitous throughout the southwest United States with concentration of the art in those areas adjacent to the Mexican border. This work examines some of the murals, and the politics associated with their creation principally in San Diego, California, and some activities in Los Angeles, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. This dissertation posits that it has been well established that art in public space is often a contentious matter and when it also carries a contra message, as did the Chicano murals, it may be considered intrusive and abrasive. The social environment into which these murals were insinuated--the public sphere, the intellectual territory of high art and the elite system of private and government cultural patronage, are examined in the context of their effect upon the mural content and conversely, the effects of these murals upon diversity in the high art and museology of the United States

Colour coded

This 300 word publication to be published by the Society of Dyers and Colourists (SDC) is a collection of the best papers from a 4-year European project that has considered colour from the perspective of both the arts and sciences.The notion of art and science and the crossovers between the two resulted in application and funding for cross disciplinary research to host a series of training events between 2006 and 2010 Marie Curie Conferences & Training Courses (SCF) Call Identifier: FP6-Mobility-4, Euros 532,363.80 CREATE – Colour Research for European Advanced Technology Employment. The research crossovers between the fields of art, science and technology was also a subject that was initiated through Bristol’s Festival if Ideas events in May 2009. The author coordinated and chaired an event during which the C.P Snow lecture “On Two Cultures’ (1959) was re-presented by Actor Simon Cook and then a lecture made by Raymond Tallis on the notion of the Polymath. The CREATE project has a worldwide impact for researchers, academics and scientists. Between January and October 2009, the site has received 221, 414 visits. The most popular route into the site is via the welcome page. The main groups of visitors originate in the UK (including Northern Ireland), Italy, France, Finland, Norway, Hungary, USA, Finland and Spain. A basic percentage breakdown of the traffic over ten months indicates: USA -15%; UK - 16%; Italy - 13%; France -12%; Hungary - 10%; Spain - 6%; Finland - 9%; Norway - 5%. The remaining approximate 14% of visitors are from other countries including Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany (approx 3%). A discussion group has been initiated by the author as part of the CREATE project to facilitate an ongoing dialogue between artists and scientists. http://createcolour.ning.com/group/artandscience www.create.uwe.ac.uk.Related papers to this research: A report on the CREATE Italian event: Colour in cultural heritage.C. Parraman, A. Rizzi, ‘Developing the CREATE network in Europe’, in Colour in Art, Design and Nature, Edinburgh, 24 October 2008.C. Parraman, “Mixing and describing colour”. CREATE (Training event 1), France, 2008