Old Myths and New Approaches: Interpreting Ancient Religious Sites in Southeast Asia

218 | Old Myths and New Approaches Chapter 13 Through the visualisation lens Temple models and simulated context in a virtual Angkor Tom Chandler Lecturer, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University Martin Polkinghorne Honorary Associate, Asian Studies Program, The University of Sydney In recent years, the shift away from the temple-centric approach of Angkorian studies has become well known (Evans et al 2007; Fletcher et al 2008; Pottier 1999). However, in the short history of the three-dimensional (3D) computer modelling of Angkor, there have been many studies of temple models (Cerezales 1997; CyArk 2006; FOKCI 2007; Visnovcova, Zhang and Gruen 2001; Kenderdine 2004; 3DreamTeam/Vizerra 2008–10; Levy 2001a; 2001b), but little consideration of the environment around the monuments. While the architectural drawing and scale modelling of Angkorian temples has a long history (see Dumarçay 1971a and b; Dumarçay and Courbin 1988; Nafilyan 1969), the modelling of these structures in the virtual world has so far followed a tradition of appraising the temples as isolated exhibition pieces and symbolic artefacts. It is argued that the narrow focus of such studies misses great opportunities in harnessing the power of the medium of 3D visualisation. This study seeks to introduce the space between the temples and to produce the simulated historical, cultural and ecological landscapes that once sur- rounded them. The future of virtual Angkor can now move beyond digital reconstructions that are defined in only architectural terms. Knowledge about the landscape around the temples has until very recently received significantly less attention. 3D visualising of landscapes cannot reference the relative certainty of the interlocking stone assemblages but must deal with the Through the visualisation lens | 219 large, unexcavated (and therefore apparently empty) spaces where the door is open to considerable conjecture. However, while some researchers might fret about committing digital images of reconstructions to relative permanence of a printed publication, we should be mindful that virtual reconstructions remain dependably ephemeral. Physical reconstructions inevitably draw criticism1 because they are more or less permanent, but the comparatively transient and provisional nature of a virtual reconstruction presents an underexploited contribution to scholarly investigation and debate. Within animated 3D models, the permanence of a reconstruction is doubly transient, especially if the process of prototyping the model means that each time the model is rearranged, so too is the resulting image. Multiple versions are made available through the medium of 3D animation and no one view is presented as correct and peremptory. 3D animation is perfectly suited to dealing with conjecture because it patently is not real. In coloured virtual models with a roving camera, walking figures, echoing sounds and consistently alternative visions, there can be no harm in weighing historical or archaeological evidence to visually experiment with possibilities. Armed with exactly such an impermanent and malleable virtual model, it is into this breach between evidence and conjecture at Angkor that 3D animation can venture. At Angkor, the ruins of temples have long served as focal points of scholarly interest and investigation. Even in a ruinous state, their obvious size and extent, though not their decoration is still clear today (Polkinghorne 2008:22). But what the Angkorian temples constitute today is only a ‘skeleton without a body’ (see Groslier 1958:108), for the wooden architecture of the humble peasant dwellings and the richly decorated pavilions of the kings have long since rotted away. There is an established tradition of illustrated temple reconstruction in the literature (Cunin 2007; Dumarçay 1973; Dumarçay and Courbin 1988; Dumarçay and Royère 2001; Dumarçay and Smithies 2003; Parmentier 1914, 1927, 1939). The conversion of architectural drafts and plans into virtual models is also predicated on customary methodologies. The mathematical geometries used for modelling architecture are an inherent function of most all-purpose 3D programs, and many 3D applications build upon a long lineage of software evolution with roots in Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs for architecture, engineering and construction industries (Fallon 1998; Myers 1998). As architectural remains hold a natural appeal for architects, it is 1 Among the most infamous monumental archaeological reconstructions are the various projects commanded by the late Saddam Hussein in Iraq (Vale 1999) or by Mussolini in the 1930s (Galaty and Watkinson 2004). 220 | Old Myths and New Approaches unsurprising that they are attracted to modelling such structures with com puter software. Conversely, there is also the mathematical attraction of running the iterative architectural patterns and designs of Khmer and Indian temples through computer-generation procedures among computer scientists. Writing more than 20 years ago, Trivedi demonstrated the procedures of self-similar iteration and fractalisation in the construction of Hindu temples (Trivedi 1989) and Datta and Beynon (2005) described a computational technique for reconstructing the surface geometry of Hindu stone temple superstructures based on information derived from textual canons (śāstras). More recent still, Pheakdey Nguonphan’s detailed study in his thesis ‘Computer Modelling: Analysis and Visualization of Angkor Wat Style Temples in Cambodia’ places the endeavour of modelling Angkorian temples in computational architecture, a field that combines historic architecture, computer science and applied mathematics (Nguonphan 2009). All of these approaches produce finely grained and detailed visual results and their methodologies are necessary components of visualisation studies; however, they remain intrinsically architecturally specific. Like the computer models of Angkorian temples, scale models of Angkor are reproductions of an already created monument in miniature. The model of Angkor Wat in the Royal Palace grounds in Bangkok is a much photographed example. In 1860, following a failed attempt to relocate an existing temple (Prasat Ta Prohm) from Angkor to Thailand, the Thai King Rama IV had to settle on a much smaller scale model of Angkor Wat, crafted in the Thai capital at Wat Phra Sri Ratanasasadaram (the temple of the Emerald Buddha) (Kasetsiri 2003). Curious stylistic embellishments in the modelling of this replica of Angkor Wat (Fig. 13.1A) lend it a uniquely Thai interpretation and hint at deeper conceptions of what the heritage of Angkor means to Thailand’s historical identity (Ünaldi 2008). Similarly, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries three- dimensional replicas of Angkor’s art and architecture were used to promote the wealth and curiosities of France’s colonial assets. Casts of artworks made by Doudart de Lagree were shown at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878. In 1889, a replica of Angkor Wat’s central tower was erected in the Palace des Invalides and an almost life-size expanded model of the temple was shown in Marseilles in 1922, and again in Paris 1931 for the Colonial Expositions (Fig. 13.2B) (Dagens 1995:104; Edwards 2007). Recently, numerous cement models have emerged in the gardens of Khmer families of Siem Reap (Fig. 13.2A).2 2 Scale models of temples are becoming increasingly common in the Angkor area today. Examples can be found at the Bakong temple and the Banteay Srei Rachana workshop on the banks of the Siem Reap River. Miniature replications abound in the markets in the form of key rings, paperweights and clocks. Through the visualisation lens | 221 Figures 13.1 The model of Angkor Wat in the grounds of the Royal Palace at Bangkok (Photograph: Juliette Truffert) Figures 13.2A and 13.2B On the left, a scale model of Angkor Wat near the Bakong temple site, Siem Reap On the right, a photograph of the reconstruction of the central towers of Angkor Wat at the 1931 Paris Colonial Exposition The computer models of Angkorian temples are similar to the real-world models in that they mimic the sharp orthogonal views of the architectural draftsman into the 3D computer drawing space. The models are marooned in a digital space and entirely cut off from their cultural context. If the analogy of the temples as the ‘religious skeleton’ of the city can be extended, these visions equate to the bones of the skeleton having been removed and each displayed in separate glass cases. 222 | Old Myths and New Approaches While recent restoration studies suggest that parts of the temples were brightly coloured and variously decorated (von Plehwe-Leisen and Leisen 2005, 2008), most digital reconstructions of temples remain decidedly coy about such uncertainties. Levy’s observations on rebuilding a virtual model of the temple of Phimai are relevant here: Creating an accurate surface treatment is both an art and science. If the goal is to show the monuments as they existed centuries ago…current photos of surface detail must be renewed or reversed in age. Samples of cut quarry stone can help in establishing the colour and luster of materials as they once appeared in the past (Levy 2001b:7). Interestingly, both the Phimai (Levy 2001a, 2001b) and Heidelberg (Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing 2007) studies situate their reconstructions against a background of finely manicured lawns.3 Whether this is intended to be the historical context is not clear, but both studies seem to suggest that they use 3D space solely

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