Cultural Data Sculpting
A Partnership with Prof. Sara Kenderdine at eM+
As part of its efforts to support the study of cartography, The Sunderland Collection is delighted to have contributed high-resolution images of some maps from the collection as a data set for Digital Humanities Masters students on the Cultural Data Sculpting course taught by the pioneering Prof. Sarah Kenderdine at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
The Cultural Data Sculpting course is located at EPFL’s Laboratory for Experimental Museology (eM+), a specialist research centre focused on experimentation in galleries, libraries, archives and museums.
The course teaches students how to approach and handle an archive data sets, and transform them into cutting-edge, immersive experiences for audiences engaging with cultural heritage objects.
You can find the two examples of what the students created from Athanasius Kircher's 'Mundus Subterraneus' (1665) and the 'Rudimentum Novitiorum' (1475) below.
All images used to illustrate the students project are © EPFL / eM+.
Project 1: Staring into the Belly of the Earth with Kircher
Thie first project is inspired by two plates depicting theories on underground water systems and volcanology from Athanasius Kircher’s 'Mundus Subterraneus' (1665). The first cohort titled their project ‘Staring into the Belly of the Earth with Kircher’.
The students began by conducting research on the work of Jesuit priest and polymath Kircher, paying particular attention to his hypotheses on hydrology, volcanology, and astronomy. They also looked at the theologians and creators who had been influenced by Kircher, including sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s ‘Fountain of the Four Rivers’ (1651) in Rome, and author Jules Verne’s famous novel ‘A Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ (1864).
The Object Navigator at eM+
The students selected the ‘Object Navigator’, an 85-inch LCD panel mounted onto a rotating platform, as their presentation device to bring Kircher’s theories to life.
They then set about developing digital models of Kircher’s underground world using software such as Blender and Adobe Substance.
These digital models were accompanied by sound and animation to illustrate the fire-water dynamics, in an attempt to visualise Kircher’s theories.
Animation showing the fluctuating fire-water dynamic orb model.
Here is an animation showing the transition between the traditional engraved style and the newly rendered 3D model
Staying true to Kircher’s original thematic visualisation, the team decided to use a stylised version of the original map when the panel was static, which would transition into the animated digital model they designed when the panel was rotated by the user.
They were able to achieve this using frame interpolation, a technique which uses AI to generate new blending frames between existing ones in a video sequence.
The sun and moon were added to orbit the illustration to show the passage of time, and additional sound effects paired with the intensity of the volcano eruptions.
Each theory was depicted on opposing sides of the panel. As the user manually turned the rotating platform, the manual action would reveal the animated fire-water dynamics theories paired with the astronomical phenomena.
Project 2: Ancient Maps
The Cupola at eM+, a 4.5m diameter wide, 6m tall space which has 4K full-dome projection capability.
This Spring, the 'Rudimentum Novitiorum', an important early world chronicle published in 1475 by Lucas Brandis de Schass was transformed into an immersive full-dome projection with interactive historical highlights shown in video format.
Again, the project started with in-depth research about medieval mappamundi and T-O maps of the world. The students were particularly inspired by the circular map of the world found in the Rudimentum to draw similarities between the map and a Cupola - the viewer can then be fully immersed in visuals and sounds, with an interactive element, much like a planetarium.
Image of the interactive Cupola in use from Cosmic Collisions (2022) Copyright eM+. Photo by Julien Gremaud.
The students then used Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Named-Entity Recognition (NER) to convert the images to text, and then to translate and extract the data subsets sourced from the Rudimentum.
This network diagram shows how the dataset began to look. It uses nodes to connect geographical regions and forms what the students called a ‘network of ideas’. The students then manually checked the dataset to make sure there weren't any biases brought forward through AI from the modern world.
Interactive elements of the installation were developed to help the participating user navigate. A physical wayfinding figurine was created to help the user navigate the physical map when within the projection space. Check out this cheeky arm-eating fellow found on the original map that was used for this character!
The content created for the educational videos available by region were generated using AI applications such as Sora and Elevenlabs. They are paired with a script that has been manually written and based directly on the description of the world provided in the Rudimentum.
Cleverly, when the video ends, the neighbouring regions to that node are left visible to encourage the user to continue their journey onwards.
Here is an animated visualisation of the above functionality:
The students tested the functionality using VR simulations in Meta Quest. Here is a brilliant visual VR-testing a real world scenario of using the physical character on the physical map, which launches the videos within the full-dome projection environment:
The Sunderland Collection is honoured to have partnered with eM+ and wishes to thank the brilliant Prof. Sarah Kenderdine for inviting us to submit data set for these projects. We are inspired by the next generation of digital humanities innovators, and looking forward to seeing what they next create!
To find out more about the works use for these datasets visit our Collections:
Professor Kenderdine also participated in 'Maps Are Too Exciting! Digital innovations in mapping", the October 2024 Sunderland Symposium at the Bodleian Library. You can watch the fascinating panel discussion "Mapping in Mapping in a digital world" with featuring Sarah using the link below!
