Over the next few months, the House of the Beautiful Courtyard at Herculaneum and the House of the Cryptoporticus in Pompeii, in Italy, will form the backdrop to a series of works created by Catrin Huber, as part Expanded Interiors a Newcastle University project designed to create a new dialogue between contemporary art, Roman wall painting and archaeological remains.
The first of Huber’s site-specific installations opened to the public on 17 May at Herculaneum, with the second beginning in Pompeii on 14 July. Both exhibitions will then remain open to the public until January 2019.
The project combines archaeological investigation, 3D digital scanning and printing to further explore and understand the houses. This meticulous process will also help inform the new and related artistic creations of Huber.
The exhibition at Herculaneum will focus on Roman objects and their (at times) artistically altered replicas. It will concentrate on female figures and faces, and brings reproductions of exquisite, rarely seen artefacts held in store-rooms at Herculaneum back to the public area of the archaeological site. This contemporary installation will also work with encoded messages relating to the history and context of the site - The House of the Beautiful Courtyard was, for example, home to an Antiquarium (small museum) that was opened there in 1956 by Amedeo Maiuri, the archaeologist and director of the site at the time.
The second contemporary installation at the House of the Cryptoporticus will be a room of contemporary wall paintings. These relate to the rare Roman bathroom area of the house, with its richly painted, complex and illusionistic architectural designs. The contemporary paintings will respond to a complex play of 2D and 3D space, open and closed walls, inside and outside space, and perspectival shifts.
The first of Huber’s site-specific installations opened to the public on 17 May at Herculaneum, with the second beginning in Pompeii on 14 July. Both exhibitions will then remain open to the public until January 2019.
The project combines archaeological investigation, 3D digital scanning and printing to further explore and understand the houses. This meticulous process will also help inform the new and related artistic creations of Huber.
The exhibition at Herculaneum will focus on Roman objects and their (at times) artistically altered replicas. It will concentrate on female figures and faces, and brings reproductions of exquisite, rarely seen artefacts held in store-rooms at Herculaneum back to the public area of the archaeological site. This contemporary installation will also work with encoded messages relating to the history and context of the site - The House of the Beautiful Courtyard was, for example, home to an Antiquarium (small museum) that was opened there in 1956 by Amedeo Maiuri, the archaeologist and director of the site at the time.
The second contemporary installation at the House of the Cryptoporticus will be a room of contemporary wall paintings. These relate to the rare Roman bathroom area of the house, with its richly painted, complex and illusionistic architectural designs. The contemporary paintings will respond to a complex play of 2D and 3D space, open and closed walls, inside and outside space, and perspectival shifts.
