Panaiotis KRUKLIDIS
(Dipartimento di Architettura, Disegno, Storia, Progetto, Firenze, Italy)
Outline: The contemporary digital solutions for the representation allow an almost real way to show the image of the past, this can be done creating realistic environment aimed to virtual or static image creation. This process allows a better and enhanced approach to the learning of the past and at the same time, when combined with the tools for the investigation and for the analysis, creates the conditions to go forward in the knowledge about an age or a period or even about a single fact or item. The object remains to find the best learning path using various learning tools, in the pure spirit of multimedia, which means the total interaction between multiple media in a single environment. In this sense, the approach proposed here will be not limited to the simple use of digital graphic tools, but will include the traditional drawing techniques enhanced in the computer graphic environment to create more lively, more suggestive and communicative representations. The process of knowledge and understanding of the draughtsman will become something capable to be transferred to the reader and observer. At the same time, the development of common and intelligent representational rules becomes quite important while this must be balanced between the language of archaeology and architecture. In this research the world from ancient Greece, narrated by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey, will be the ideal base to develop a special experience aimed to produce high quality representation, supported by a correct scientific background.
Abstract: Even if in our time the traditional drawing has been left backward by the computer graphic, the research presented here is a full fusion and interaction between digital and manual artistry techniques. The traditional approach will give a legacy of tension, of warm signs, of expressive traces, while the digital approach will allow rethinking, unlimited attempts, rich variation and higher performance.
The direct reference at the base of this work is the art from eighteenth century artists inspired by archaeological discoveries, represented in their lost time, with a great richness of details, capable to communicate the deep meanings of that age. Thanks to the experience of those painters it is possible to talk about an “archaeological image”, developed starting from the information coming from the knowledge of the ancient times. The main examples come from the work of L. Alma-Tadema, J. William Waterhouse, W. Bouguereau, and from all the artists of the École de France in Rome taking part to the Grand Tour, all their work is a great example of quality in communication and an unexcelled experience.
Taking from them the importance of lighting and the scenic level of detail, this research try to underline how an image can evoke the “sense of sublime” and inspire the observer behind the simple sight of the shape and size of a town or of an armor in a reconstructive representation.
Originally developed as the author degree thesis in Architecture under the direction of prof. G.Verdiani and prof. M.Jasink, this research has been taken to the world described by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey to follow an articulated path between drawing, representation, architectural and archaeological studies to define a sort of “image periegesis” going behind the narrative aspect to underline and to bring back the cultural depth needed to create a real learning experience.
Keywords: Representation, Homer, Iliad, Odyssey, Traditional Drawing, Digital Drawing, Computer Graphic