English 122

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***Please note for this assignment, you may use the first person***

Student Name

Instructor Name

English 122

Date

Exploratory Essay and Research Proposal

I began this module with an interest in researching art conservation and restoration efforts due to the recent burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in France. As a History major, I have a certain affinity for old buildings and ancient ruins and I was curious to learn more about the techniques and policies utilized when undergoing any kind of restorative efforts. This left me with three questions: What are the criteria for determining when art needs restoration or not? What are the restoration practices and techniques currently in use and are any of them controversial? Outside of time or nature, what are the most common threats to art and architecture that cause the need for restoration and conservation efforts? These seemed like strong questions to cast a wide net of research with, but I wanted to narrow my searches down. Since Notre Dame was my inspiration, I began looking for any articles that discussed any immediate proposals for rebuilding it. Comment by Katherine Burton: The introduction includes how/why the student is interested in the topic and a brief overview of the topic. He explains how he began his search for sources.

I found my first source when I was researching a rumor that had been promulgated by numerous sources concerning the use of a video game in rebuilding the cathedral. Multiple internet sources had indicated that Ubisoft, the creator of Assassin’s Creed: Unity, was going to be consulted in efforts to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral. However, upon further investigation it turned out that the company was simply donating half a million Euros and was “not currently involved in the reconstruction of Notre Dame” (MacDonald). While the rumor had turned out to be false, the information that I did find caused me to consider if perhaps the company should be consulted in these efforts. The designers of the game “spent 14 months working almost exclusively on the cathedral” to ensure that the digital model was as accurate as the real thing after all (MacDonald). I wanted to further research the use of technology in archeological sites, but I was not satisfied in my research into Notre Dame specifically and wanted to fulfill that satisfaction before moving on with my research. Comment by Katherine Burton: Student begins with how they came across their first source and what he found. He then segues into how he “stumbled” upon another source.

This process caused me to stumble upon an old Time magazine article that had been recently republished. Instead of being about the fire at Notre Dame, this 2017 article entitled “Notre Dame Cathedral Is Crumbling. Who Will Help Save It?” by Vivienne Walt, was a call for help for the medieval building two years prior to the tragic fire. I was struck by this prophetic article and knew that I had to read it. It was here that I learned that the French government budgeted nearly 7 million U.S. dollars towards restoration efforts of Notre Dame in 2017, but also that “the cathedral is just one of many old buildings in need of care. France has thousands of monuments,” and “Notre Dame is not necessarily the most pressing case” (Walt). At this point, I wanted to see what technology could do to potentially alleviate problems like this for governments. Essentially, if France, for example, has thousands of monuments, is there a way for technology to handle restoration efforts for some of those better than others in to ensure that as much restoration as possible can be done? Comment by Katherine Burton: Student includes what information he found in this source and how it begged another question for him to investigate.

With this narrower focus in mind, I turned to the online resource databases to find more information where I found Dr. Cristina Portales’ article “Photogrammetry and Augmented Reality for Cultural Heritage Applications.” This article explained the usage of augmented reality to recreate a Baroque vault and Renaissance reredos that used to exist in a Spanish cathedral. Augmented reality is a process that “permits the simultaneous viewing of both virtual and real 3D data” (Portales 316). In other words, if we were standing in front of an ancient gateway that used to have an arch on top of two pillars that has collapsed, we could utilize augmented reality projections to create a digital recreation of the fallen arch on top of the real pillars that remain. This process fascinated me as I immediately saw it as a potential way to replace restoration efforts for lower priority projects that could possibly free up funding that could be reallocated to higher priority restoration efforts. Comment by Katherine Burton: Having narrowed his focus, the student does a database search and includes what he learned.

I also found an article entitled “3D Printing and 3D Scanning of Our Ancient History: Preservation and Protection of Our Cultural Heritage and Identity,” by Maher Al-Baghdadi. This article described using 3D printing and scanning techniques to create numerous replicas of various Iraqi cultural artifacts. The need for this process is due to “hundreds of thousands of artifacts,” of Iraqi heritage being scattered to the archives of museums around the world (Al-Baghdadi 441). In this context, the author is seeking to use technology to replicate stored artifacts to make them more visible to the world via mass production. However, this article also caused me to wonder if this technology could be utilized to totally replace the restoration of ancient pottery or similar, smaller works? In theory, this would again reduce the cost of restoration projects for nations and allow them to reallocate those funds to higher priority projects. Comment by Katherine Burton: After reading this article, the student thinks of another question that he will try to find an answer for. He is letting the research guide him and he is describing his process. That is the purpose of an exploratory research paper.

From this point, I decided to search for art conservation videos or TED talks. I ended up watching a speech entitled “The Secret Lives of Paintings,” in which the speaker talked about the various uses of imaging technologies to expose poor restoration efforts and reveal the true nature of certain famous images. The speaker gives a specific example about “the ‘Lady with the Unicorn,’ another painting by Rafael, well, you see the unicorn. A lot has been said and written about the unicorn, but if you take an X-ray of the unicorn, it becomes a puppy dog” (“The Secret Lives of Paintings”). The speaker goes on to reveal that Rafael left the piece blank and that these other images were added to the painting after the fact. This inspired me to research the ethical considerations regarding art conservation. Comment by Katherine Burton: The student is using a variety of sources, including TED talks. After reviewing each source, he comes up with more questions.

On the ethics front, I found a pair of sources. The first one concerned the use of Virtual Reality to replicate places like the Palace at Knossos. Knossos, like many ancient sites, is constantly under restoration projects because of the age of the ruins and the volume of visitors they experience each year. To combat these problems, proposals exist to create a Virtual Reality model of the Palace of Knossos to have tourists visit instead of the real site. This proposal is vehemently rejected by the article “Fighting with Pictures: The Archaeology of Reconstructions,” where the author points out that “life at Knossos and Stonehenge in fact derives from the continuous natural spectacle that monumental artifacts present” (Molyneaux 135). In other words, the thing that makes Stonehenge and Knossos worth visiting is seeing them in nature, or reality, and not just simply observing the physical dimensions of the structures in an artificial world. The second article was an opinion column in The Times regarding the Bamiyan Buddhas that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. At the present time, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is not planning to restore the Buddhas for fear of creating a monument to the Taliban despite outcries to “resurrect a cherished cultural symbol” (Macintyre). This article caused me to wish to look into UNESCO and their role in conservation and restoration efforts since they had the ability to dictate whether something would be restored or not. Comment by Katherine Burton: The student describes each component of his research process including specific areas he wants to investigate. Notice that each source is correctly cited in MLA format and each in-text citation corresponds with a source citation on the works cited page.

UNESCO is an international authority on the “protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity” (UNESCO World Heritage Centre). On their website, they have lists of sites under their protection and include a separate list for sites that are endangered. With this organization being the authority on my topic, I decided at this point that my argument should be geared towards them.

I believe I have developed a working thesis for the next phase of this essay if I am approved for it: UNESCO should adopt the use of technologies like augmented reality, 3D printing, and virtual reality in restoration practices in order to alleviate the financial burden of physical restoration projects. Comment by Katherine Burton: Working thesis statement

Works Cited Comment by Katherine Burton: Correctly formatted works cited page: Author last name or title first, followed by the publication (in italics), volume number, edition number (if those apply), date in Day Month Year format, database in italics (if applicable), then the URL or DOI. Entries are listed in alphabetical order. The https:// has been removed from the URL and there are no hyperlinks.

Al-Baghdadi, Maher A. R.Sadiq. “3D Printing and 3D Scanning of Our Ancient History: Preservation and Protection of Our Cultural Heritage and Identity.” International Journal of Energy & Environment, vol. 8, no. 5, Sept. 2017, pp. 441–456. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=124951603&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

MacDonald, Keza. “Assassin's Creed Creators Pledge €500,000 to Notre Dame.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 17 Apr. 2019, www.theguardian.com/games/2019/apr/17/assassins-creed-creators-pledge-500000-notre-dame-restoration.

Macintyre, Ben. "Before We Go, Rebuild the Bamiyan Buddha; Restoring this Landmark Would Be the Perfect Symbol of the West's Good Intentions Towards Afghanistan." Times [London, England], 24 Apr. 2012, p. 21. Global Issues in Context, link.galegroup.com.ccco.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/A287485826/GIC?u=aur58810&sid=GIC&xid=32958bfb. Accessed 28 Apr. 2019.

Molyneaux, Brian Leigh. “Fighting with Pictures: The Archaeology of Reconstructions.” Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, vol. 12, no. 1, June 1999, p. 134. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1558/jmea.v12i1.134

Portales, Cristina, et al. “Photogrammetry and Augmented Reality for Cultural Heritage Applications.” Photogrammetric Record, vol. 24, no. 128, Dec. 2009, pp. 316–331. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1477-9730.2009.00549.x.

“The Secret Lives of Paintings.” Performance by Maurizio Seracini, TED, 2012, www.ted.com/talks/maurizio_seracini_the_secret_lives_of_paintings?language=en.

UNESCO World Heritage Centre. “World Heritage.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2019, whc.unesco.org/en/about/.

Walt, Vivienne. “Notre Dame Cathedral Is Crumbling. Who Will Help Save It?” Time, Time, 27 July 2017, time.com/4876087/notre-dame-cathedral-is-crumbling/. Comment by Katherine Burton: Student has the required number of sources.