• Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage
• English close
• GREDOS close

[EN] In the 1990s, the International Museum of Electrography of Cuenca (MIDE), thanks to a newly-created artist-in-residency program, welcomed artists from all over the world who experimented with new media during this historical era of pioneering Media Art. One of the first artists to visit the MIDE was Fred Adam, a French artist, still a student at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, who carried out countless researches in this creative field during his stay. One example that had a greater repercussion was the creation of digital narratives in interactive multimedia. This work seeks to put some of the pioneering media artworks into value, building their story, and working to recover and preserve them and update their languages so that they become accessible again. Only through this institutional and personal commitment to history can we recover, divulge and give access to the immense artistic heritage that generated and continues to generate the art that uses or has as a reference on new media.

In this article we will describe and analyze three marble sarcophagi that were recently unearthed from a hypogeal tomb; rescue excavations were conducted by the Direction-General of Antiquities (Damascus; Tartus) at al-Bayada necropolis, belonging to the ancient city of Amr?t, Syria. The coffins date from the late second to third centuries ad and resemble each other in their iconography. Stylistically, they are all of the “garland” type, decorated with several significant motifs and symbols. They were probably crafted in Asia Minor for a local wealthy family during this region’s occupation by the Roman Empire in its latter period. As such, this discovery contributes to amplify the number of coffins we have and to the understanding of the function and character of Roman iconography and significance in this part of southern Syria, it may allow us to do some reflections and shades light on the Roman funerary landscape. On the other hand that find could contribute to extent the study on the Roman iconography developed at Southern area of Syria.Besides the information on the production of this type of materials, on having treated itself about a finding in situ, one might derive information about the funeral local rituals. All this will allow us to realize a series of reflections and to be making the funeral landscape and to penetrate into the knowledge of the rituals of burial into this territory, which archaeological interventions are still very scanty. En este artículo se describen y analizan tres sarcófagos de mármol que recientemente fueron documentados durante las excavaciones de rescate en un hipogeo; estas intervenciones arqueológicas fueron realizadas por la Dirección General de Antigüedades (Damasco; Tartus) en al-Bayada, necrópolis que pertenece a la ciudad antigua de Amrit, Siria. Los sarcófagos se pueden datar hacia finales del s. II o a comienzos del s. III d.C. y los tres ejemplares muestran una gran semejanza iconográfica. Estilísticamente pueden ser clasificados como de ‘tipo guirnalda’ por sus característicos motivos y símbolos. Posiblemente fueron elaborados en Asia Menor, por encargo de alguna familia adinerada, durante la etapa de presencia romana en este territorio. Este hallazgo podría contribuir a ampliar el conocimiento, hasta ahora disponible, sobre la iconografía romana desarrollada en esta zona del sur de Siria. Además de los datos sobre la elaboración de este tipo de materiales, al tratarse de un hallazgo in situ, podría derivarse información sobre los rituales funerarios locales. Todo ello nos permitirá realizar una serie de reflexiones e ir confeccionando el paisaje funerario y profundizar en el conocimiento de los rituales de enterramiento en este territorio, cuyas intervenciones arqueológicas son aún muy escasas.

Este artículo tiene por objeto el estudio de un entalle romano procedente de un santuario rupestre descubierto en Carmona (Sevilla). Fue tallado en cornalina y contiene la imagen de un joven alado sosteniendo con ambas manos una antorcha, que podemos identificar con Eros/Cupido. Abordamos el análisis de este ejemplar excepcional de la glíptica romana basándonos, en primer lugar, en su clasificación tipológica. A continuación, estudiamos la iconografía de Eros/Cupido a través de las referencias literarias que a él se hacen en los textos clásicos, de su papel en la mitología clásica y de su representación en el arte antiguo, centrándonos, sobre todo, en la figura del Eros antorchario. Finalmente ofrecemos una interpretación del significado del objeto a partir de los datos que aporta el contexto arqueológico, que también proporciona un terminus ante quem de tiempos de Vespasiano para fechar la pieza. El entalle, así como otros objetos encontrados junto a él, se interpretan como posibles ofrendas realizadas durante las ceremonias que precedieron al fin de la actividad del santuario. The aim of this paper is to study a Roman intaglio from a cave shrine discovered in Carmona (Sevilla). It is carved in carnelian and contains the image of a winged young man holding a torch with both hands that can be identified as Eros/Cupid. Firstly, the analysis of this exceptional specimen based on its typological classification is undertaken. After that, the iconography of Eros/Cupid through the Classical texts, his role in Classical mythology and its representation in Ancient art is studied with a focus on Eros the torchbearer. Finally, an interpretation of the object based on the data provided by the archaeological context is offered. The archaeological context allows the intaglio to be dated before Vespasian times. The gem and other objects found in the same context are interpreted as possible offerings preceding the end of the activity of the sanctuary.

[EN]This contribution analyzes the uses of time linked to materials in contemporary art practices. In the first part of the argument I consider the significance of the contemporary turning away from the normative idea that time should be external or non-intrinsic to fine or visual artworks. The change in mentality concerning the value of time in these works of art has been especially transforming among artists and opened up new opportunities for their creative work. I am particularly interested in the possibilities of an aesthetic translation of the human experience of time into the so-called spatial artworks through the intervention of changeable, non-permanent or non-lasting materials. When time ceases to be seen as a destructive element whose intervention should be avoided, or as a simple subject that the picture tries to depict, it can then be regarded as any other artistic material or as working inside the artistic materials as an active element that can attain a high impact on the final solution of the artistic process. Consequently, artists, viewers, art conservation institutions and so on ought to acknowledge that the temporal nodes should always count as a significant aesthetic component and that the performative temporal dimension is intimately linked to the amplification of the material possibilities in the creative process. In connection with this, I discuss the blurring of the difference between the real and the representational in art practices and how that affects the very presence of temporal dimensions. The paper concludes with the proposal of a new temporal level in works of art that modifies (our temporal understanding of) the identity of the work.