Promising Beginning? Evaluating Museum Mobile Phone Apps

Since 2009 museums have started introducing mobile apps in their range of interpretative media and visitor services. As mobile technology continues to develop and permeate all aspects of our life, and the capabilities of smart phones increase while they become more accessible and popular, new possibilities arise for cultural institutions to exploit these tools for communicating in new ways and promoting their exhibitions and programmes. The use of mobile apps opens up new channels of communication between the cultural institution and the user, which extent to his or her personal space and go beyond the boundaries of the museum’s walls. The paper presents a survey carried out of mobile apps designed by art or cultural historical museums and analyses the wider issues which are raised by the findings. It discusses, among others, the kind of use these apps were designed to fulfil (e.g. the majority are guided tours to the permanent collections or to temporary exhibitions), the layering of content,and the type of user interaction and involvement they support

Significados medievais da maçã : fruto proibido, fonte do conhecimento, ilha Paradisíaca

Neste artigo procuramos analisar algumas das simbologias da maçã. Apesar de outros frutos estarem associados ao pecado original, como o figo e a uva, a maçã a partir do século XIII passou a ser a principal representação da transgressão de Adão e Eva no Éden. A ingestão do fruto proibido significou a possibilidade de atingir o conhecimento através do livre-arbítrio, mas também levou ao sofrimento (a expulsão do local divino, a necessidade do trabalho e as dores no parto). Em outras culturas, como a germânica, para obter a sabedoria o deus Wotan abdicou da visão de um dos olhos e ficou nove dias pendurado na árvore Yggdrasil sem comer ou beber. A maçã também está ligada ao simbolismo da árvore, eixo do mundo, associada à cruz e a Cristo. Como se acreditava que o conhecimento vinha do alto, uma metáfora era a arbor inversa, cujas raízes estão no céu, sendo Cristo o mais belo fruto enviado pelo céu (Deus) à terra (Maria). Outro simbolismo da maçã é a de Insula Pomorum, reino do Outro Mundo repleto de abundância e prazeres, descrito por Geoffrey de Monmouth no século XII como local onde ao vez de grama o solo é coberto por maçãs. Na mitologia céltica, esta fruta simboliza a magia, a imortalidade e o conhecimento. Para os medievais era confortante o sentido da maçã como Ilha dos Bem-aventurados, possibilitando o acesso dos indivíduos num mundo semelhante ao paraíso e que se localizava paralelamente ao mundo terreno. Já segundo à Igreja, só depois da morte e da passagem pelo purgatório, os indivíduos purificados poderiam aspirar à felicidade eterna.Dans ce travail nous cherchons d'analyser quelques symbologies de la pomme. Bien que d'autres fruits soient associées au peché originel, comme le figue et la raissin, depuis le 13ème siecle la pomme est devenu la principal representation de la transgression d'Adam et Eve en Éden. L'ingestion du fruit interdit a signifié la possibilité de l'homme d'atteindre la conaissance par le libre arbitre, mais c'est a conduit aussi à la suffrance(l'expulsion du divine endroit, la besoin du travail et les douleurs du accouchment). Dans autres cultures, comme la germanique, pour obtenir la sagesse le dieu Wotan a abdiqué de la vision d'un de ses yeaux et est demeuré neuf jours acrochée à l'arbre Ygddrasil, sans boir ou manger. Comme on croyait que la conaissance venait d'Aût, une métaphore était l'arbor inversa, dont les racines sont dans le ciel et Christ est consideré le plus beau fruit envoyée par le ciel (Dieu) à la terre (Marie). Une autre symbolisme de la pomme, c'est la Insula Pomorum, royaume de l'Autre Monde plein d'abundance et plaisirs, decrit par Geoffroy de Monmouth au 12ème siècle comme un endroit où, à l'envers de gramme, le soleil était couvert par pommes. Dans la mythologie celtique, ce fruit represente la magie, l'imortalité et la conaissance. Pour les médiévaux, c'était confortant le signification de la pomme comme l'Île du Bienaventureux, qui possibilitait l'access des individus à un monde semblable au paradis. Mais par l'avis de l' Église seulement après la mort et de la passage par le purgatoire, les individus purifiés pouvaient aspirer à la felicité éternelle

Atmospheric effects of volcanic eruptions as seen by famous artists and depicted in their paintings

International audiencePaintings created by famous artists, representing sunsets throughout the period 1500?1900, provide proxy information on the aerosol optical depth following major volcanic eruptions. This is supported by a statistically significant correlation coefficient (0.8) between the measured red-to-green ratios of a few hundred paintings and the dust veil index. A radiative transfer model was used to compile an independent time series of aerosol optical depth at 550 nm corresponding to Northern Hemisphere middle latitudes during the period 1500?1900. The estimated aerosol optical depths range from 0.05 for background aerosol conditions, to about 0.6 following the Tambora and Krakatau eruptions and cover a period practically outside of the instrumentation era

[T]errores cotidianos. Hipérbole, caricatura, deformación y otros catalizadores de la invención

Pese a su tradicional codificación como disciplina menor, o degeneración de expresiones artísticas verdaderas, la caricatura ha gozado de una especial atención por parte de los artistas, así como de una reivindicación por parte de la moderna historia del arte. Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, siguiendo los pasos de Ernst Kris y de historiadores anteriores, encontró en la caricatura el ejemplo paradigmático de la prevalencia del reconocimiento frente al parecido en la representación. Pero además, en lo que tiene de deformación de la realidad, la caricatura tiene una poderosa capacidad de catalizador creativo, cuyo interés para la arquitectura está aún por explorar

Gaspard Dughet: Some Problems in the Connoisseurship of Chalk Drawings

Little scholarship has been devoted to the graphic oeuvre of Gaspard Dughet (1615-1675), a prominent landscape painter of the seventeenth century. A number of drawings in red and black chalk have been attributed to Dughet based on their connection to documented paintings. Stylistic comparisons with other examples of Dughet's work as a draughtsman and technical evidence including medium and watermarks, however, reveal that a group of drawings given to the artist are, in fact, copies done in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. Although Dughet's contributions are under appreciated today, his work influenced the next generation of landscape artists in Italy and abroad, including the British and many Dutch and Flemish artists who traveled to Italy. This thesis examines not only Dughet's chalk drawings, but the graphic work of his most well-known Northern followers to determine which artist may have executed these copies

The origins and meanings of Hans Memling's landscapes

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