Hemse stave church revisited

The project explores early Medieval church architecture through a re-examination and virtual reconstruction of the archaeological remains of Hemse stave church. It is a collaboration between the University of Gothenburg (Gunnar Almevik, Jonathan Westin) and the Swedish History museum and will result in an interactive element in the new exhibition of the Viking age. The digital reconstruction functions as a virtual diorama to contextualize the diffused remains and contemporaneous religious artefacts. The aim is also methodological; to explore the uses of the digital artefact in the research process. The reconstruction is less of a static representation of our knowledge than a historical laboratory through which archive material can be activated and hypotheses can be tested. (project description via)

Publication: Almevik, Gunnar & Westin, Jonathan, “Hemse Stave Church Revisited”, Lund archaeological review 23 (2017), pp. 7-25.

Citation from publication, fig. 20: The highly polished figurine in the shrine, here represented by the Appuna madonna, glistens as it reflects the light of the oil lamps; the reliefs of the font deepen and the water reflects the light upon walls and ceiling. Shadows, all moving from the flickering lights, become part of the dwelling: the carried light makes the roof truss and rafters come alive as we move through the nave, and the shadows cast by the font and the central column stretch out before us, tracing the outlines of the room.
Citation from publication, fig. 21: The simulation offers opportunities to deconstruct the reconstruction and hold it accountable to the source material.
Display of the preserved portal + virtual display in the Swedish History Museum (image via)

The next Rembrandt

After almost 400 years, a new portrait ‘by Rembrandt’ was unveiled in Amsterdam (2016). The portrait was created by art historians and technicians using data and facial recognition techniques from 346 of Rembrandt’s paintings. Visit the project website here. The project was made possible by sponsorship and expertise from ING, advertising agency J Walter Thompson, Microsoft and advisors from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The Mauritshuis and Museum Het Rembrandthuis. The work of art took almost 18 months to complete, consists of 148 billion pixels and was printed in 3D. (Via)

ReVisMartin

Ricercar project, 3D rendering of lost musical spaces  a project funded by the Région Centre-Val de Loire. For the 1700th anniversary of Saint Martin’s birth, the Centre for Renaissance Studies in Tours (CESR) proposed a scientific project to reproduce the music and buildings of the Saint-Martin Collegiate. (renderings via) Watch the film and the making of here. Discover the other projects of Renaissance Transmédia Lab here.

Smelly Remedy

Smelly Remedy: Womb Fumigation Illustrated in Seventeenth Century Print. An exhibition at the University Library (Cambridge University) curated by PhD student Lizzie Marx.

In the 17th century, the womb was regarded as a troublesome and unpredictable organ which afflicted women with numerous ailments. To pacify the wild womb, marriage was usually prescribed, but a favoured short-term remedy was fumigation. Like a second nose, the womb was considered to be attracted to pleasant perfumes and repulsed by stench. A womb could therefore be coaxed back to its ‘rightful place’ by wafting fragrant ingredients beneath it. Smelly Remedy shows examples of this procedure from the University Library collection and examines how the remedy was visually represented to a wide readership. (via)

Futurist Scents

Highly recommended : Caro Verbeek’s blog Futurist Scents – On Olfactory History and Ephemeral Heritage. She is an embedded researcher of olfactory heritage at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum and International Flavours & Fragrances. Trained as an art historian she specialises in sensory art and education in museums, art academies and universities. (via)

Olfactory tour for blind and near-sighted people at the Rijksmuseum. Some are wearing especially designed scent necklaces which are a co-creation and -design by Caro Verbeek, Justus Tomlow and Bernardo Fleming (IFF). (Via)

Transmediale.11

The campaign (by + Ruddigkeit) for Transmediale Festival is inspired by the simplicity of one line and one dot as in the 1 and the 0: the basic pattern of the binary system and the dna. thus, a code connecting man and machine and allowing for infinite words and images. (via)

Inspired by the possibility of intuitive interaction, Büro Achter April was ask to translate the transmediale.11 campaign into moving image, visualising the previous design work by Raban Ruddigkeit of one line and one dot, resembling the numbers 1 and 0.