IPAT2015_BrognoliOliviero: The reconstruction of the Virtual Neronis Domus Aurea

La exposición creada por el proyecto KatatexiLux en le Fruttiere del Palazzo Te en Mantua (Italia).
Desde el 15 de diciembre de 2013, en 04 de mayo 2014.

comisarios:
Stefano Borghini

Raffaele Carlani

colaboradores:
Gabriele Monotti
Valerio Barzotti
Giuseppe Arena
Giulia Santucci

Asesoramiento científico:
prof. Alessandro Viscogliosi

PHILOSPHY

The goal of Progetto KatatexiLux is to take advantage of IT technology and apply it to an ancient traditional field of study. By doing so, we propose an experimental use of computer technology, an interesting and innovative scientific study and research tool, and an effective approach to pubblication. The Project’s main idea is that the technological means is the instrument through which it is possible to realize Raffaellos’s dream: the reconstruction of the ancient world by joining the historian’s skills to those of the artist. In other words, to combine the quest for scientific quality, on the one hand with to the ability to excite, on the other.

Scientific accuracy and attention to aesthetic content are therefore the result that these works aspire to attain. They are the final result of painstaking reconstruction processes, capable of justifying every reconstructive choice, through a specifically designed methodology.

Therefore it is not a question of iconography used to represent a preconceived idea of ancient architecture. Progetto KatatexiLux employs a new way of conducting historical-arhitectural research: all archaeological data is carefully evaluated within the reconstruction phase and all emerging hypotheses are carefully verified through an actual physical phenomena simulation involved in the architecture.

ABOUT US

Progetto KatatexiLux is the name under which cultural heritage computer applications are produced by the Associated Architects Studio, Stefano Borghini and Raffaele Carlani. The Studio is particularly interested in IT assisted research in the art history and architecture history fields.

KatatexiLux Project was founded in September 2002 and is the idea of two young graduating architecture students with a shared passion for high technology and computer science applied to the history of architecture. The project name comes from the "crasi" between two terms: on the one hand, the ancient greek katatexitechnos (translated as "he who disperses art in the minutiae") that represents the scientific care and attention to detail present in the studio’s projects; on the other hand, the Latin medieval “lux” (inspirational origin of Gothic architecture) emphasizes the emotional and engaging aspect which is the main inspiration that enlivens the Studio’s work. Stefano Borghini and Raffaele Carlani’s start collaborating while working on the reconstruction of the Virtual Neronis Domus Aurea in 2004, a project which is contiuously being updated.

This is the first of a series of official recognitions that takes their work, in a short time, to become known amongst professionals in the field and beyond. In May 2005, part of the research material was purchased by the RAI (Italian Radio and Television) and transmitted on cultural diffusion programs. A new version of the outdoor spaces of the villa is again produced for RAI in October 2009. Over time, Progetto KatatexiLux dedicates itself to many other works, one which stands out in particular, the movie "Domus Aurea Neronis. Virtual tour of the palace of an emperor" with virtual reconstructions of Nero's palace, carried out for the Rome All Night Fesitval in 2006; the interactive multimedia project "Virtual Ara Pacis", an ambitious computer oeuvre concerning the monument, commissioned by the Cultural Heritage Department of the City of Rome and currently in the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome; the movie "Domus Aurea 1774" commissioned by the Museo della Fondazione Roma for the exhibition "Rome and the Ancient. Reality and Vision in the 700’s" opened in November of 2010. In September 2008 for the light show, "The colors of the Ara Pacis," Progetto KatatexiLux studied and rendered the entire restored hypothesis of the original colors of the altar on a philological basis. Noteworthy is the Studio’s participation in special events dedicated to new technologies applied to cultural heritage: among these was the exhibition "Imagine Ancient Rome," the first world exhibition of virtual archeology, held in Rome, at Trajan's Market in 2005, or the ArcheoVirtual Expo, section of the ninth edition of the Mediterranean Archaelogical Tourism Exchange held in Paestum (SA) in November 2006.

Since November 2005, the firm has worked in educational support activities, with the chair of Architecture History and Ancient and Medieval Urbanism in the "Valle Giulia"Architecture Department of the University of Rome" La Sapienza ". From this moment on, the Studio regularly combines teaching activities and field work, teaching masters and university level courses. In July 2008, the architect Borghini, acquires the title of PhD in Architecture History, and in March of the same year becomes an Adjunct Professor in the “Ludovico Quadroni” Architecture Department of the "La Sapienza" University of Rome. In 2007 the study begins collaborating on numerous projects with the Institute for Applied Technologies in Cultural Heritage of the CNR. From 2009/2010 Borghini and Carlani both become researchers at the same institute.

Since May 2004, the Studio has participated in various research activities, conferences, and national and international meetings relating to the history of architecture, archeology and new technologies, applied to cultural heritage. Talks have been held from Rome to Turin and Berlin toWarsaw at prestigious institutes such as the "La Sapienza" University of Rome, the Regional Authority for Archaeological Heritage of Rome, the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom and the Muzeum Narodowe in Warsaw and for authoritative bodies such as the CAA (Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology) and the FAI (Italian Environment Fund). Over the years, several articles and contributions have been published in conference proceedings and in specialized journals.

Imágenes de la reconstrucción de la Domus Aurea de Nerón: