Challenging Heritage Visualisation: Beauty, Aura and Democratisation

• Authors: Stuart Jeffrey
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In this paper I will pose a challenge to digital heritage visualisation that takes as its starting point the weirdness of the digital world in comparison to everyday experience. Related to this is the apparent inability for digital objects to benefit from or acquire aura from their originals. I contend that, unless mitigated, these properties will cause a continuing lack of engagement with digital heritage visualisation beyond the professional and academic circles in which they are created. Contrary to expectations, I will argue digital objects can indeed manifest an auratic quality and that this is in fact fundamental to how they are received by various audiences. I contend that both aura and the intimate relationship between digital representation, aesthetics and the creative imagination need to be understood and embraced in practice. Finally, I will suggest some ways of addressing the challenge by looking at modes of co-production, physical replication and aesthetic quality.

Keywords

EN

visualisation; digital heritage; aura; aesthetics; replication

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Open Archaeology
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 1

Dates

received

2014-12-04

accepted

2015-04-17

online

2015-05-18

Contributors

author

Stuart Jeffrey

• Glasgow School of Art, The Hub, Pacific Quay, Glasgow, G51 1EA

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/opar-2015-0008