Intention is the 3rd phase of the a/r/cographic method.
The aim of my PMAD proposal is to explore urban landscapes through immersive illustrations, with the goal of raising awareness about how they are perceived. This ongoing effort involves research, collection, and reflection on the archetypal image of a real urban environment and the various visions of the same place held by people worldwide.
The city of Venice, where I have lived for almost twenty years, is at the heart of this exploration. Beyond Venice, a variety of interpretations await, coming from the many copies, reproductions, simulacra, each as unique as the place and the people that created them.
My personal motivation stems from the constant inquiries I receive about how a normal life could be possible in such a special city. This artifact aims to shed light on the identity of Venice, its disneyfication, gentrification and over-tourism, while recognizing its distinctive morphology, architecture, environment and lifestyle.
Drawings have a unique capability to condense and refine ideas, scenes, and circumstances, enabling panoramic illustrations to swiftly capture and portray the essence of an environment, free from real-life visual distractions. By closely observing and creatively interpreting, I will juxtapose the real city and its representations, shedding light on how authenticity interacts with portrayal in urban settings.
AI has the potential to interpret spaces and generate visions that could surpass human imagination. The development of an AI powered system mixing 360 sketching and 360 diffusion model could lead to the use of AI not only functioning as a digital tool but evolving into a creative resource for visualization. The use of such a distinct process in the realm of creativity could present new narrative opportunities, yet to explore.
The combination of these two ways to create 360º imagery involves creating an installation that merges the showcase of on-site sketches with an AI-powered image generation system, allowing people to envision their own Venice-inspired urban settings. The goal is to prompt audience reflection on the subject by immersing them in the proposed phygital environments and encouraging them to create their own “virtual worlds.”
This artifact will be more as a beginning than an endpoint. I envision it as not just an installation, but rather a way to show the expandable repository of knowledge, visions, experiences and reflections. This archive could serve as a catalyst for generating new content through remixing and a possible part of a dataset to feed a custom AI 360 image generation model.
The outcome is designed for display in an academic setting, as part of a group exhibition featuring various digital media arts projects. This is a distinct chance to present the initial stages of the research and gain perspectives from fellow researchers. With the exhibition open to the public, there’s also the opportunity to receive feedback from a broader audience.
This project is the beginning of an ongoing journey. I will start by testing with 2-3 pilot cities in Europe, displaying the (partial) results in the DMAD exhibition, and then (hopefully) expanding to other cities. This initial phase will serve as a trial to assess the effectiveness of the juxtapositions, gather information about each city, and refine or adjust our research methodology accordingly.
To summarize, particular attention will be paid to the contrasts that may arise between real and fake, beautiful and kitsch, or even between different contexts of beauty can be revealed through juxtaposition. This can unveil scenes that may seem similar at first glance, but upon closer inspection, have distinct details.
To generate new visions, I will work on creating an archive of observations, sketches and field notes collected during my experiences in different Venices, as well as ongoing comparisons with the authentic city. Technology will play a crucial role in this work, serving as a reflective tool for comparing Venice and the Venices and generating new urban visions.
The process aims to provoke reflection on archetypal urban images and prevalent phenomena in tourist destinations worldwide, such as gentrification, Disneyfication, and over-tourism.