Visualizing Cities and Historic Spaces: 15 Years of Research in Art History and Digital Visual Studies

For over a decade, the Art, Art History & Visual Studies Department at Duke has conducted research on using digital methods to explore the visual and historical problems associated with the cultural history of cities. Such work, in conjunction with colleagues at both workshops at the University of Venice as well as the University of Padua, has resulted in a productive international collaboration on modeling, mapping, and critically analyzing historical building sites, objects in space, and cultural experience. This scholarly core has in turn expanded to include cultural geographers, literary scholars, historians, engineers, and digital visualization specialists who, together, have created a vibrant community meant to intervene in the critical analysis of art objects and/in urban sites. This conference extends this work by highlighting the critical use of digital methods to analyze historical cities and related spatial cultural environments in Digital Humanities and Visual Culture today. With three panels, it will bring together international scholars with practitioners at Duke to discuss mutual points of interest and debate. Panels will focus on: case studies from Duke and its Getty-sponsored Venice summer institutes on advanced Digital Art History; scholarship from the Visualizing Cities group; and complementary new work in the Digital Humanities that will help us to extend the conversation.

This event is free and open to the public.

Co-Sponsors: Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies; Dean of Arts & Humanities, Trinity College; Information Science + Studies