Sunday, February 3, 2008

next best thing to being there?

As art history instructors we've long been struggling with the shortcomings of using the two-dimensional reproduction to stand in for "the real thing." This was true of optical slides, and remains true of digital slides as well. And it's especially true of photographs of architecture, where it's nearly impossible to get a sense of the space and the scale of the work.

But new technologies, especially those online, can change all this, and offer us and our students new and better views of these places.

Check out this fantastic interactive tour of Sant' Andrea, which offers 360-degree views of the facade, and numerous interior spaces. If this isn't the future of art history, it should be!

How about virtually entering a reproduction of a space, built to scale? The Sistine Chapel on Vassar Island in Second Life does just this. If you're in SL, click on the link to teleport. More on art history in Second Life soon......

3 comments:

Choppah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Choppah said...

Monica and I recently received a Micro-Grant from our college to take a group of students on a "Field Trip" to the Barnes Foundation. The argument for the journey is to see the museum in its original site before its impending move to Center City Philadelphia. Here is a moment when seeing is of great importance. This collection will soon be housed in a new space, a space that we hope will embrace the ideals of Albert Barnes, but cannot mimic its current habitation completely.

In order to engage future students with the experience of the current Barnes through the eyes of our students on this trip, they are being asked to create a Wiki of the visit. Perhaps through this source, we will be able to preserve the experience of this site in a digital realm.

Unknown said...

Wow! Sant'Andrea is one of my favorite churches of all time. Thanks for the post!