Sarah Kenderdine

The irreducible ensemble: place-Hampi

This discussion examines several philosophical considerations (phenomenology, embodiment, corpothetics and mediation) which form powerful interlocking arguments, whose qualities are prerequisites for building presence and place in virtual heritage landscapes. The discourse draws upon Interpretive Archaeology and Interpretive Archaeological Systems theory and it is in Symmetrical Archaeology theory that we find a basis for complex emergent narratives in immersive virtual environments. Firmly rooted in praxis, the argument explores these issues through research associated with applications from the Place-Hampi project. Place-Hampi is an embodied theatre of participation in the drama of Hindu mythology focused at the most significant archaeological, historical and sacred locations of the World Heritage site Vijayanagara (Hampi), South India. Through the Advanced Visualization Interactive Environment a translation of spatial potential is enacted in Place-Hampi where participants are able to transform myths into the drama of a coevolutionary narrative by their actions within the virtual landscape and through the creation of a virtual heritage embodiment of a real world dynamic. Place-Hampi restores symmetry to the autonomy of interactions within virtual heritage and allows machine and human entities to make narrative sense of each others actions (as an entanglement of people-things cf Bruno Latour).

Dramaturgies of PLACE: evaluation, embodiment and performance in PLACE-Hampi

This paper examines an extensive user evaluation survey undertaken during an installation of PLACE-Hampi, a custom-built augmented stereoscopic panoramic interactive cultural heritage installation. The evaluation draws on the responses of 284 users of the system. This study is highly significant for two reasons. Firstly it is one of only, a few extensive evaluations undertaken to date on interactive virtual cultural heritage work designed for a mass multicultural public. Secondly, the work has traveled extensively for the last 4 years worldwide to major cultural venues, experienced by thousands of people and enjoyed a high degree of public success. The analysis here focuses on selected sections of the survey providing insight into a) virtual embodiment, dwelling and immersion, co-presence and aspects of performance between user, system and spectators---that is, the dramaturgies of PLACE. The analysis of the PLACE-Hampi installation also provides rich observational and quantitative data on the power of stereoscopic, panoramic interactive display systems for the exploration of heritage landscapes. The results of the analysis are highly significant for designers of situated multimodal immersive entertainment in museums and galleries.

Pure Land : Futures for Embodied Museography

This article describes the design and implementation of the Pure Land projects, consisting of two visualization systems and their respective applications, Pure Land: Inside the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang [2012] and Pure Land Augmented Reality Edition [2012]. Each installation allows participants to engage in different ways with a full-scale augmented digital facsimile of Cave 220 from the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Mogao Grottoes, Gansu Province, northwestern China. This project is a collaboration between the Applied Laboratory for Interactive Visualization and Embodiment (ALiVE), City University of Hong Kong, and the Dunhuang Academy. In the Pure Land projects, the digital facsimiles of this cultural paragon have been transformed, providing formative personal experiences for museum visitors. The projects integrate high-resolution digital archeological datasets (photography and 3D architectural models) with immersive, interactive display systems. This work is of great importance because the treasuries of paintings and sculptures at Dunhuang are extremely vulnerable to human presence and, in the case of Cave 220, permanently closed to public visitors. Comprehensive digitization has become a primary method of preservation at the site. Both installations have been shown to the public at a variety of museums and galleries worldwide—to critical acclaim. The projects contribute to new strategies for rendering cultural content and heritage landscapes and suggest the future for embodied museography. Here, each project is described in detail, including innovations in interface technological application and user experience.

Spatial user interface for experiencing Mogao caves

In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of the Pure Land AR, which is an installation that employs spatial user interface and allows users to virtually visit the UNESCO world heritage -- Mogao Caves by using handheld devices. The installation was shown to the public at different museums and galleries. The result of the work and the user responses is discussed.

Immersive Visualization Architectures and Situated Embodiments of Culture and Heritage

This paper describes a series of transdisciplinary research projects in five large-scale, interactive visualization architectures. These immersive architectures and their associated visual, sonic and algorithmic techniques offer compelling means for mapping and remediating the tangible, intangible and abstract aspects of culture and heritage landscapes. This paper brings these unique systems and the installations developed for them together for the first time. The task here is to highlight the strategies for embodied, kinaesthetic, multisensory and collaborative engagement as powerful ways to reformulate narrative made possible through these stereographic, panoramic, situated interfaces.

1000 years of the olympic games: treasures of ancient Greece. digital reconstruction at the home of the gods

The paper results from a recently completed project that complimented an exhibition, 1000 Years of the Olympic Games: Treasures of Ancient Greece, at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (July 18 November 18, 2000). This Exhibition offered an opportunity to supplement the traditional experience of the visitor by the introduction of ‘virtual reality’ components. These included a 3D digital reconstruction of the site of Olympia in 200 BC, the laser scan of the famous statue of Zeus from the archaeological museum in Athens, and the construction of a large-scale website. [1] The website included presentation of the digital Olympia model; the Zeus in 3D; statuary from the Temple of Zeus; panoramas of the archaeological site at Olympia; together with a host of other interpretive information and scholarly resources. The discussion of the website is prefaced by an outline of questions raised with regard to the presentation of complex archaeological datasets in digital environments, and the archaeological basis for reconstruction of Olympia. Perspectives on the creation of the digital works that have particular relevance to the WWW10 forum include the use of “zoomable” technology to display the extensive photographic resource of object movies and 360° full screen panoramas; and the use of anaglyph glasses for 3D presentation. The website analysis includes discussion on design and architecture issues, bandwidth intense resources for the education and cultural sector, and what the website logged in terms of user statistics.

Sailing on the Silicon Sea – The Design of a Virtual Maritime Museum

Following the development of a virtual museum this paper theorises the implications this has had for the Western Australian Maritime Museum (http://www.mm.wa.gov.au/). It is an opportunity to explore the relationship between both theory and praxis. The context for the analysis is the Diving into Shipwrecks internet project (http://www.mm.wa.gov.au/Museum/excavate/intro/intro_frame.html) developed as a constellation of shipwreck excavations. The success of the project is highlighted through an assessment of statistical data and more qualitative forms of feedback. Having established one model in a virtual museum this paper then reflects upon other forms of the web museums that are appearing on the internet. The discussion has implications for cultural organisations that seek to create on-line environments.

New media in situ: the re-socialisation of public space

Five recently created artworks described in this paper constitute experimental research frameworks for revitalising strategies of representation by addressing the issues of inhabitation and the sensorial in virtual environments. Their immersive architectures provide a modular interactive cinema with digitally augmented full body engagement and offer new opportunities for rendering the experience of culture and heritage. Place-Hampi, Hampi-Live, The Eye of Nagaur, T_Visionarium and UNMAKEABLELOVE are set inside four originally conceived immersive display systems: advanced visualisation and interaction environment (AVIE), Place, EoN and Re-Actor. Each of these artworks elucidates the singular qualities of physically located and socially shared new media experiences, which are both complimentary to and distinct from those experiences generated in cyberspace. The works demonstrate singular solutions to current challenges in the fields of cultural heritage, the navigation of massive multi-modal databases, interactive cinema and the evolving relationship between human and machine agents. The text frames these works in terms of cultural imaginary, co-evolutionary narrative, prosthetic vision, re-combinatory narrative and complicit agency.

An entanglement of people-things: Place-hampi

Drawing upon Interpretive Archaeology, Interpretive Archaeological Systems theory and Symmetrical Archaeology, this discussion examines several philosophical considerations (phenomenology, embodiment, corpothetics and mediation) which form powerful interlocking arguments, whose qualities are prerequisites for building presence and place in virtual heritage landscapes. Through the two interactive display systems (Place and the Advanced Visualization Interactive Environment) a translation of spatial potential is enacted in Place-Hampi where participants are able to transform myths into the drama of a co-evolutionary narrative by their actions within the virtual landscape and through the creation of a virtual heritage embodiment of a real world dynamic.

A guide for multimedia museum exhibits: 1,000 years of the Olympic Games

Despite the ongoing debate on the strengths and weaknesses of digitally reconstructed archaelogical models, the virtual reconstruction of Olympia, and the website for the exhibition 1,000 Years of the Olympic Games: Treasures of Ancient Greece www.phm.gov.au./ancient greek olympics/ have demonstrated not only the unlimited potential of this medium, but also the viability of the Internet to supplement and extend materials offered locally in museums. The author is project manager/creative producer of special projects at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, where she developed the Olympia visualization and multimedia project. Traditionally a maritime archaeologist and museum curator, Sarah Kenderdine has researched and excavated shipwrecks throughout Australia and the Indian Ocean region and has written a number of books on the subject. After completing an M.A. degree on virtual museums in 1995, with a research thesis on design, she carried out web projects for the Western Australian Maritime Museum from 1994 to 1995, the Smithsonian Institution, and for the Museum Archives and Informatics. For two years from 1998, Ms Kenderdine was the information architect and creative producer for the portal web Australian Museums On‐Line (amol.org.au). She has recently completed working with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa to examine redesign options for the portal web New Zealand Museums Online.