AIC, 1988 - AIC Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia ...

AIC
continuino a coesistere, in certa
misura anche appoggiandosi
reciprocamente.
Quanto all'immagine numerica
essa ha una prerogativa
singolare: quella di unificare e
riassorbire un po' tutte le
precedenti. Può produrre
configurazioni statiche
equivalenti a quelle oggettuali
(anche se fisicamente tali non
sono), ma anche configurazioni
in movimento (anche se non
ancora comparabili a quelle del
cinema); è basata su riferimenti
analogici, ma passa attraverso la
struttura simbolica e
convenzionale della
digitalizzazione e, in generale,
delle rappresentazioni logiche e
matematiche; si presta in forme
nuove alla "creatività" artistica
e, al tempo stesso, ai controlli,
alle indagini e alle valutazioni
scientifiche; infine l'immagine
chimica tradizionale è comunque
coinvolta non appena si vogliano
fissare per tempi non
eccessivamente effimeri le forme
prodotte e divulgarle a stampa.
Di fatto l'immagine numerica
non è separabile da tutti gli altri
aspetti del mondo dei calcolatori
e dunque da mille altri nessi con
la cultura tecnologica e
scientifica. Così l'immagine
numerica sta creando, attraverso
un pubblico soprattutto
giovanile, una nuova gigantesca
e intelligente "hobbistica", che è
l'aspetto "adulto" e "in" del
mondo dei videogiochi. Tale
hobbistica ha drasticamente
ridimensionato il mondo dei
cruciverba e dell'enigmistica, e
sta reintroducendo nella cultura
attiva una complessa educazione
alle regole logiche e
comunicazionali che fino a una
generazione fa era scomparsa
sotto l'intuizionismo, il
creazionismo a buon mercato e
l'indifferenza (quando non il
disdegno) nei confronti delle
conoscenze tecniche e
scientifiche.
Today, most people know (or think
'hey know) what the word image
wans (what they believe it means).
Nevertheless, 1 think it would be wise
'o examine its origins before going any
further. In fact, the Italian
immagine", the French "image" and
'he English "image" all derive from the
wtin "imago", the principal meaning
of which is a figure consituted by a
certain distribution of light and shade,
either on a wall, or mirror, or any
other kind of surface, or in a specific
material, in such a way that it
corresponds analogically to the
distribution of light and shade and/or
volume evident in a determined area
visible in space. "Appearance" and
"metal phantasm" were only the
secondary meanings of the Latin noun,
which was also used in the figurative
or metaphorical sense, as in the famous
saying: "homo sine pecunia imago
mortis". The German word "Bild", on
the other hand (the derivations of
which: "Bildnis", "BMing", "Abbild",
"Abbild" etc., we won't bother
examining here) has basically the same
meaning as image, but mostly
interpreted in a material, sense, that is,
"La clemenza di Tito" di Carlo Di Palma
Celebrazioni per il millenario dell'Università di Bologna
as applied to a figure or material
representation rather than the
distribution of light and shade
(appearance). In short, the principle
meaning of the verb "Bilden" is to
roduce a "material figure", whether it
Ee abstract or iconographic, anabgical
or symbolic (hence the term "Bildende
Kunste", which simply means the
"Figurative Arts").
The difference in meaning between
"Bild" and image (which is my clear
and precisely defined in certain areas)
is there for a very good reason. In the
culture of the ancient German peoples,
the object created by a process of
figurative representation was of prime
importance, while the Classical culture
considered an image to be, above all,
an optical phenomenon. For this
reason, Euclid's optical geometry not
only reigned supreme as a method for
defining optical and catottrica/
phenomena (and, therefore, the
formation of images) for about 2,000
years, but still functions today, even if
in an empirical and approximate way,
as an extremely valid means of
representing certain phenomena of
light.
In the Classical world, painting and
sculpture were considered to be
indissolubly linked to the distribution
of light and shade. One of Pliny's
stories offers us proof of this: a young
girl from Corinth, looking at the
outline of the face and obtained a cast
from it, thus inventing "sculpture".
The story used to fascinate the
neoclassical artists and they illustrated
it many times.
But what are the laws which govern
tracing the outline of objects, so that
they are able to "reproduce" the effect
of the object's becoming smaller when
it moves away from us, and larger
when it moves nearerUnfortunately,
it is not possible to illustrate the
fundamental principles of Euclid's
optical geometry here.
Enough to say it was Euclid who
formulated the principles which
established that the further the object
is away from the erye, the smaller the
opening of the angle of the image was,
and vice versa. Euclid, however, was
also the first to declare that the image
could diminish only up to a certain
point, after which it ceased to be
visible. He was finally to go even
firther, with his Optical Theorem VIII:
establishing the premises for a centric
projectional geometry which could be
developed in two directions, either by
transfering the dimensions onto a flat
surface (proportioning for similar
triangles) or onto a curved, cylindrical
or spherical surface (proportioning for
angles).
Brunelleschi, Alberti, Donatello and
others opted for the first method in
applying perspective to their images. It
was so successful that scholars and
artists lost all interest in the second
method, the application of which was
much more difficult.
However, it has been discovered
through general studies that were
effected, that the artistic needs and
techniques relating to the second
method never disappeared completely,
not even in the darkest years of the
Middle Ages: for example, the
application of the so-called "inverse
perspective" to the Constantinian
bas-reliefs decorating the Arch of
Constantine in Rome; to the mosaics
in Ravenna; to the mosaics and
painting of the Byzantine and Late
Byzantine periods; to the Carolinian
miniatures; and even to the great
bronze doors of St. Peter's sculpted in
1,450 by Filarete. Abo, in that same
period, the French artist, Jan Fouquet,
painted a series of miniatures to which
he applied "curvilinear perspective",
obviously having studied it.
After a few decades, Mantegna and
Leonardo, then Giorgione, and finally,
Titian, also adopted the second
method. The use of proportioning for
angles is clearly visible in the Baroque
period, in the work of artists like Pietro
da Cortona and certain Dutch
painters, and also in the work of
portrait artists like Shickhardt. It is
also evident in the work of Escher and
the contemporary American artist,
Dick Termes, while Bane and Flocon
devoted considerable study to the
theory.
On the practical side once again
evolution of the camera lens
has.inrecenttimes, reached a point with
the "fish eye" (even if in an extreme
and paradoxical form) where it is
actually able to transpose centric
projection applied to a spherical bowl,
onto aflat image in the shape of a
disc.
Generally speaking, the centric
perspective as applied to a flat surface
seems to come out on top as far as the
historical evidence is concerned but one
must also recognize, as recent studies
demonstrate, that it was continually
evolving with the help of the second
method.
Its evolution, in fact, started
immediately after it was discovered by
Brunelleschi and Alberti, and precisely
because it was used together with the