EVENT: "Virtual Reality from Giotto to Grand Theft Auto" LECTURE

We are used to thinking of virtual reality (VR) as a technology of the computer era, but in this talk Margaret Wertheim will trace its roots to the Middle Ages. In the 13th century Roger Bacon championed a new form of representation he called “geometric figuring” and argued for artists to adopt this style. Soon Giotto was painting the Arena Chapel, a medieval environment consciously designed to make visitors feel as if they had been projected into a 3D simulation of Christ’s life. Following the development of what later came to be called “perspective,” Wertheim will discuss a lineage of visual verisimilitude from Giotto to Grand Theft Auto.