This is the research blog for the PhD trajectory of visual artist Alexandra Crouwers. The Appeal of the Unreal is part of the research proposal title, and concerns, amongst other things, the emotive quality of dead things, simulations, screen culture, and virtual nature.
Alexandra Crouwers is member of the Deep Histories Fragile Memories research group, part of the Lieven Gevaert Research Centre (KU Leuven) and the Intermedia research unit of Luca School of Arts, Brussels.
This blog is here for several reasons: the posts collect all that has to do with the research, it functions as a reminder, and as a way to communicate progress and findings. Please keep in mind this blog is a work in progress.
Latest posts
Epilepsy warning! A tapestry gif animation.
An experiment in animating a double sided tapestry.
A life-sized doll house.
Château de Breteuil near Paris, houses a collection of automata and period room dioramas, depicting historical events that may or may not have taken place in the castle. Visited Oct. 2019.
A Brief History of Visual Trickery.
Work in progress: an overview of visual illusions and illusionist effects: suggestions of depth and/or movement.
‘Choir of a gothic church’ by Daguerre & Bouton.
Daguerre and Bouton’s only remaining diorama at the church of Bry-sur-Marne: a piece of religious high-tech theatre. Visited October 2019.
Are prehistoric caves dioramas?
This is part of a text, published in April 2019 on my portfolio site. It talks about the boundaries of the diorama, and Lascaux III as a simulation.
Fiction dioramas: a rant on an Efteling theme park dark ride
This text was first published in April 2019 on my portfolio site. It takes a closer, critical look at one of the ‘magical’ animatronic dioramas of Dutch theme park Efteling.
Titanic sinks in real time
Originally meant to promote a game, this 2 hours and 40 minute real time simulation, based on the actual events and timeframe of the sinking of the Titanic, displays an eerie artistic quality…
Hark! The clock of Notre Dame strikes!
London, Vol 6, edited by Charles Knight, 1844. CXLIII: Exhibitions of Art by J. Saunders. p283 – 285. Excerpt. The eye witness account of J. Saunders. (…) let us pay our two shillings…
The Artist in His Museum
Charles Wilson Peale (1741 – 1827) was an American painter, scientist, naturalist and inventor. He’s most known for his portraits, and for setting up one the first museums in the United States. Peale’s famous…
Visual tricks by animals: Bowerbirds and Forced Perspectives.
Apart from humans, there’s at least one other species associated with the production of ‘art’: the Australian/New Guinea bowerbird builds elaborate architectural constructions to lure its mate to its lair. These ‘nests’ are…
Himalaya at Dawn
Powell Cotton Museum | Quex House & Gardens | Birchington, UK | quexmuseum.org | Visited June 2019 | Himalaya at dawn (constructed in 1905) is considered to be ‘the oldest untouched diorama of…
On screens as dioramas as screens
Note: this is a repost of an April 2019 entry on my portfolio website. Illusions behind glass The screen has become omnipresent in our lives: starting with TVs entering our homes, then computer…