(Digital) Bread and Circuses : Reframing Ancient Spectacle for Different Screens

• It is commonplace that screen-based communication – i.e. TV, cinema, computer screens and ubiquitous devices is continuously mediating cultures (Galloway 2004, Giaccardi et al. 2012). Digital reconstruction is the process of graphically representing ideas and objects (Wileman: 1993). This process, however, requires a conceptual picture to be transferred to in a graphical medium. This paper focuses on the potentials of a conceptual digital construction of a Roman Amphiteatre for multiple screens. I argue that while current ‘historically accurate’ digital depictions of Roman amphitheatres are limited to lifeless and sanitized aerial 3D models, a more innovative, multisensory and participatory reconstruction of entertainment sites for multiple screens can elucidate our understanding of historically and geographically remote social and cultural concepts.I propose new methodological tools for generating discourses that add layers of understanding to our contemporary knowledge of the Roman spectacle. A participatory (embodied- tangible computing) and multisensory (sound and vision) digital recreation of a Roman amphitheatre (along the lines of Betts: 2009, Drucker: 2009, and Favro: 2006) can engineer deeper and constructive analyses of the dynamics and systemic operations regarding [ancient and current] popular entertainment. It can generate questions about the cultural and emotional context of ancient spectacle as well as the potentials and limitations set by our current technological grasp. It can further be applicable in research and education in order to anchor both ’traditional’ research questions, as well as the importance of multiplicity within institutional material infrastructure

Nyckelord

Digital Humanities

Visualisation

Senses

Entertainment

Culture

antikens kultur och samhällsliv

Classical Archaeology and Ancient History

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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