Albertian Perspective and Augmented Reality: Lessons from Panofsky
Originating as a peer reviewed paper presented at the Carbon Meets Silicon II exhibition and seminar, part of the 7th IEEE Int. conference, Internet Technologies and Applications (ITA-17), at Wrexham Glyndŵr University, Wrexham, 2017, this text was subsequently included in the published proceedings of that conference.
Originating as a peer reviewed paper presented at the Carbon Meets Silicon II exhibition and seminar, part of the 7th IEEE Int. conference, Internet Technologies and Applications (ITA-17), at Wrexham Glyndŵr University, Wrexham, 2017, this text was subsequently included in the published proceedings of that conference.
Grounded in a shared interest in perspective – McGuirk, from his work in drawing studies, specifically the epistemology of drawing, and from Summers’ practice and engagement with augmented reality (his work was also included in the exhibition) – this text critically examines the ubiquity of western Albertian models of perspective and its position as the dominant paradigm in the production of visual displays within extended reality technologies. The text specifically addresses problematic aspects of this ubiquity from a standpoint grounded in Erwin Panofsky’s critical examination of Albertian perspective in his seminal work Perspective as Symbolic Form (1927).
Differences in, for example, the interpretation of the visual field between Western and East Asian subjects also call into question the near ubiquitous application of Albertian/Cartesian models in the design of these diagrammatic environments. The text adopts Panofsky’s recognition of the cultural specificity of western perspective systems, and his critique of their cultural dominance, to question in a similar way the hegemony of such perspectival displays within these new technologies. This research will thereby have considerable relevance for the development of design in these areas. Furthermore, the text calls for the exploration of alternative forms of perspective when designing augmented reality environments.
We have presented further reflections at the conference, Superimposed visions: psychophysiological space in Augmented and Mixed Reality design, Design Culture & Somaesthetic, Moholy-Nagy University Budapest, 2019 and in a forthcoming chapter: Across the threshold: a somaesthetic approach to the design of extended realities, in Shusterman, R. & Veres, B. (Ed’s), (2021) Somaesthetics and Design Culture, Leiden, Brill.