Calvino's panorama : Invisible Cities imagined

Abstract

This thesis provides a context for the relevance of the panorama in the arts and its evolution over time, while demonstrating the role the panorama played in shaping my installation titled Calvino’s Panorama: Invisible Cities Imagined. This paper documents and conveys the creative and discovery process of Calvino’s Panorama: Invisible Cities Imaged as the project evolved over the course of my second year in the Electronic Arts MFA program. I aim to convey to the reader my internal struggle with this project in relation to privilege and creation of work that may come across as romanticization of a difficult topic, in this case poverty. I explore artists and sociologists who discuss the topic of privilege in the context of class status and race, and go in depth describing their processes in creating work that overcome these struggles. I aim to explore the history of advanced technological animation styles and aim to describe the unique aspects of my work while also providing a historical context and artists that have forged the path for animation, technology, and hand-drawn installation processes. That my installation is unique, but is inspired by artistic styles that have long roots in the art world, and prove that increased technological advancement does not need to create a dichotomy with traditional art styles; rather the two can come together to create an impressive, immersive, hand-crafted environment.