Digital Archetypes: Adaptations of Early Temple Architecture in South and Southeast Asia (Digital Research in the Arts and Humanities)

Computer-Generated Images (CGIs) are widely used and accepted in the world of entertainment but the use of the very same visualization techniques in academic research in the Arts and Humanities remains controversial. The techniques and conceptual perspectives on heritage visualization are a subject of an ongoing interdisciplinary debate. By demonstrating scholarly excellence and best technical practice in this area, this volume is concerned with the challenge of providing intellectual transparency and accountability in visualization-based historical research. Addressing a range of cognitive and technological challenges, the authors make a strong case for a wider recognition of three-dimensional visualization as a constructive, intellectual process and valid methodology for historical research and its communication. Intellectual transparency of visualization-based research, the pervading theme of this volume, is addressed from different perspectives reflecting the theory and practice of respective disciplines. The contributors - archaeologists, cultural historians, computer scientists and ICT practitioners - emphasize the importance of reliable tools, in particular documenting the process of interpretation of historical material and hypotheses that arise in the course of research. The discussion of this issue refers to all aspects of the intellectual content of visualization and is centred around the concept of'paradata'. Paradata document interpretative processes so that a degree of reliability of visualization outcomes can be understood. The disadvantages of not providing this kind of intellectual transparency in the communication of historical content may result in visual products that only convey a small percentage of the knowledge that they embody, thus making research findings not susceptible to peer review and rendering them closed to further discussion. It is argued, therefore, that paradata should be recorded alongside more tangible outcomes of research, preferably as an integral part of virtual models, and sustained beyond the life-span of the technology that underpins visualization. This Unique Book Presents A Broad Multi-disciplinary Examination Of Early Temple Architecture In Asia, Written By Two Experts In Digital Reconstruction And The History And Theory Of Asian Architecture. The Authors Examine The Archetypes Of Early Brahmanic, Hindu And Buddhist Temple Architecture From Their Origins In North Western India To Their Subsequent Spread And Adaptation Eastwards Into Southeast Asia. While The Epic Monuments Of Asia Are Well Known, Much Less Is Known About The Connections Between Their Building Traditions, Especially The Common Themes And Mutual Influences In The Early Architecture Of Java, Cambodia And Champa. While Others Have Made Significant Historiographic Connections Between These Temple Building Traditions, This Book Unravels, For The First Time, The Specifically Compositional And Architectural Linkages Along The Trading Routes Of South And Southeast Asia. Through Digital Reconstruction And Recovery Of Three Dimensional Temple Forms, The Authors Have Developed A Digital Dataset Of Early Indian Antecedents, Tested New Technologies For The Acquisition Of Built Heritage And Developed New Methods For Comparative Analysis Of Built Form Geometry. Overall The Book Presents A Novel Approach To The Study Of Heritage And Representation Within The Framework Of Emerging Digital Techniques And Methods. Interpreting Temples: An Introduction -- The Digital Construction Of Temple Archetypes -- Spread And Adaptation: India -- Spread And Adaptation: Java -- Spread And Adaptation: Cambodia -- Spread And Adaptation: Regional Connections -- Connections. Sambit Datta, David Beynon. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Introduction / Anna Bentkowska-Kafel and Hugh Denard Defining our terms in heritage visualization / Richard Beacham Scientific method, chaîne opératoire and visualization : 3D modelling as a research tool in archaeology / Sorin Hermon Setting standards for 3D visualization of cultural heritage in Europe and beyond / Franco Niccolucci More than pretty pictures of the past : an American perspective on virtual heritage / Donald H. Sanders A new introduction to the London charter / Hugh Denard The London Charter for the Computer-based Visualisation of Cultural Heritage (version 2.1, February 2009) Walking with dragons : CGIs in wildlife "documentaries" / Mark Carnall Hypothesizing Southampton in 1454 : a three-dimensional model of the medieval town / Matt Jones Paradata in art-historical research : a visualization of Piet Mondrian's studio at 5 Rue de coulmiers / Ryan Egel-Andrews Just how predictable is predictive lighting? / Kate Devlin Lies, damned lies, and visualizations : will metadata and paradata be a solution or a curse? / Martin J. Turner Intricacies and potentials of gathering paradata in the 3D modelling workflow / Sven Havemann Defining paradata in heritage visualization / Drew Baker Transparency for empirical data / Mark Mudge Behaviours, interactions, and affordance in virtual archaeology / Maurizio Forte and Sofia Pescarin How to make sustainable visualizations of the past : an epoch common infrastructure tool for interpretation management / Daniel Pletinckx Processual scholia : the importance of paradata in heritage visualization / Anna Bentkowska-Kafel.

This unique book presents a broad multi-disciplinary examination of early temple architecture in Asia, written by two experts in digital reconstruction and the history and theory of Asian architecture.

The authors examine the archetypes of Early Brahmanic, Hindu and Buddhist temple architecture from their origins in north western India to their subsequent spread and adaptation eastwards into Southeast Asia. While the epic monuments of Asia are well known, much less is known about the connections between their building traditions, especially the common themes and mutual influences in the early architecture of Java, Cambodia and Champa. While others have made significant historiographic connections between these temple building traditions, this book unravels, for the first time, the specifically compositional and architectural linkages along the trading routes of South and Southeast Asia.

Through digital reconstruction and recovery of three dimensional temple forms, the authors have developed a digital dataset of early Indian antecedents, tested new technologies for the acquisition of built heritage and developed new methods for comparative analysis of built form geometry. Overall the book presents a novel approach to the study of heritage and representation within the framework of emerging digital techniques and methods.

Much as art history is in the process of being transformed by new information communication technologies, often in ways that are either disavowed or resisted, art practice is also being changed by those same technologies. One of the most obvious symptoms of this change is the increasing numbers of artists working in universities, and having their work facilitated and supported by the funding and infrastructural resources that such institutions offer. This new paradigm of art as research is likely to have a profound effect on how we understand the role of the artist and of art practice in society. In this unique book, artists, art historians, art theorists and curators of new media reflect on the idea of art as research and how it has changed practice. Intrinsic to the volume is an investigation of the advances in creative practice made possible via artists engaging directly with technology or via collaborative partnerships between practitioners and technological experts, ranging through a broad spectrum of advanced methods from robotics through rapid prototyping to the biological sciences. Research as art / Charlie Gere Triangulating artworlds: gallery, new media and academy / Stephen Scrivener and Wayne Clements The artist as researcher in a computer-mediated culture / Janis Jefferies A conversation about models and prototypes / Jane Prophet and Nina Wakeford Not intelligent by design / Paul Brown and Phil Husbands Excess and indifference: alternate body architectures / Stelarc The garden of hybrid delights: looking at the intersection of art, science and technology / Gordana Novanovic Limited edition-unlimited image: can a science/art fusion move the boundaries of visual and audio interpretation? / Elaine Shemilt Telematic practice and research discourses: three practice-based research project case studies / Paul Sermon Tools, methods, practice, process and curation / Beryl Graham. This multi-disciplinary study of early archetypal Brahmanic, Hindu and Buddhist temple architectures examines how the styles from northwest India and were adapted as they spread into Southeast Asia. It unravels the specifically compositional and architectural linkages along the trading routes of South and Southeast Asia, and the common themes and influences to be seen in the early temples of Java, Cambodia and Champa. Using digital reconstruction and recovery of three-dimensional temple forms, the authors have developed a digital dataset of early Indian antecedents, tested new technologies for Computer-generated images (CGIs) are used and accepted in the world of entertainment but the use of visualization techniques in research in the arts and humanities is controversial. This volume explores the challenges of providing intellectual transparency and accountability in visualization-based historical research