A Short History of Visual Representations - twobenches.com

A Short History of Visual Representations

MS 1301 Introduction to Computer Graphics

A Short History of Graphical Representations

First Traces • first documents of this kind reach us from about 35.000 BC • notched/incised sticks and stones • Once emblematic symbols are introduced they are geometrical and abstract: circles, wheels, triangles, rectangles, arches, spirals, zigzag lines, dots • The first figurative representations - to begin with pictures of single animals and, more rarely, human beings - ca. 37,000 years old



First Problems Visual traces from the stone-age raise problems of interpretation: • many signs are irretrievably lost • we do not know the cultural context " (...) any comparison based entirely on the outward appearance of individual signs chosen at random from two entirely different forms of information storage and communication is more or less meaningless.” Sassoon, R and Gaur, A (1997) Signs, Symbols and Icons: Pre-History to the Computer Age



‘Perspective’ in early times • Photorealistic visual representation is a culturally informed idea that did not exist before the introduction of ‘Perspective’ in the 15th century in Western Culture. • Egyptians: size of a depicted object is related to its importance in real life • Chinese artists used long scrolls to depict depth. Absence of single-point- perspective • Medieval Times: many vantage points at the same time, no directed view • Renaissance: the spectator defines the center of an image



The Idea of ‘Perspective’ • ‘Alberti’s Window’ (1435): A mathematical method in order to translate a 3-dimensional space onto a 2dimensional pane. "For the artist it is a rational geometrical technique for the systematic representation of objects in space which mimics the everyday visual illusion that the parallel edges of rectilinear objects converge at what we now call a 'vanishing point' on the horizon." Chandler, Semiotics for Beginners • Central to its further development: The Cartesian Space • Perspective: A reductive method of representation? MS 1301 Introduction to Computer Graphics


The Idea of ‘Perspective’ • ‘Alberti’s Window’ (1435): A mathematical method in order to translate a 3-dimensional space onto a 2dimensional pane. "For the artist it is a rational geometrical technique for the systematic representation of objects in space which mimics the everyday visual illusion that the parallel edges of rectilinear objects converge at what we now call a 'vanishing point' on the horizon." Chandler, Semiotics for Beginners • Central to its further development: The Cartesian Space MS 1301 Introduction to Computer Graphics


Mechanical Reproduction • Introduction of first mass-produced media in the 15th Century • Marshal McLuhan: The ‘Gutenberg Galaxy’ • Printing Press marks a paradigm shift in social and cultural life • Benjamin: Loss of aura and ritual means that art becomes potentially democratic. "For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual. To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility.” Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction MS 1301 Introduction to Computer Graphics


Photography • Claims of Photography: - it reflects reality (like a mirror) - it creates unmediated instances of reality "Photography is in many ways the mechanical realization of perspective.” Sturken and Cartwright, Practices of Looking



‘myth’ of photographic truth • What is true? Is photorealism the appropriate method to represent reality? "A photograph is often perceived to be an unmediated copy of the real world, a trace of reality skimmed off the very surface of life. We refer to this concept as the myth of photographic truth.” Sturken and Cartwright, Practices of Looking • The OJ Simpson case



‘myth’ of photographic truth • Digital technology has eroded the notion of photography as a ‘true’ medium "The tragic illusiveness of the Cartesian Dream" Mitchell, W. (1992) The Reconfigured Eye "In the end, our visual perceptions too, like photographic images, are only models of a world which is not directly accessible to us, a model dependent on interface and guided by interest.” Roetzer, Florian (1996) ‘Re:Photography’



Computer Graphics • Graphical representation with computers became relevant as late as in the 1980ies. • Digitalisation: converting analogue material into a digital code of numerical representation (Manovich, Language of New Media): - A digital graphic can be described formally (mathematically). It is separated from a physical form (like paper or canvas or alike) -A digital graphic is subject to algorithmic manipulation



Computer Graphics New ways of producing, transmitting and consuming graphics: - Digital graphics can be copied, manipulated and altered far more easily than analogue graphics - Digital graphics can be accessed in many ways and at very high speeds - Photorealistic digital graphics can be created from scratch; simulation vs. representation



Implications of Digitality • Enormous proliferation of images might imply qualitative changes in visual representation and practices of looking “What appears to be happening is that this phenomenal quantitative development of mass reproducibility is beginning to produce mutations with significant qualitative effects. New and increasingly convoluted kinds and levels of repetition are one symptom of this.” Darley, Visual Digital Culture: Surface Play and Spectacle in New Media Genres



Concluding thoughts • Computer Graphics do not displace older forms of graphical representations > Use Pen & Paper! • In order to create attractive and effective computer graphics it is helpful to recall principles of graphical representation > Think before you design! • Image-making and image-reading is taking place in a specific cultural system with a set of shared coding and decoding practices (Semiotics) > Come to next week’s lecture! MS 1301 Introduction to Computer Graphics