UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Virtual Actualities: Technology, Museums, and Immersion A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Culture and Performance by Francesca Albrezzi 2019 © Copyright by Francesca Albrezzi 2019 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Virtual Actualities: Technology, Museums, and Immersion by Francesca Albrezzi Doctor of Philosophy in Culture and Performance University of California, Los Angeles, 2019 Allen Fraleigh Roberts, Chair In this dissertation, I build discussions around the use of digital technologies in association with art and art historical contexts to ask greater cultural heritage questions regarding humanity’s relationship with digital technology. My work reflects on the emergence of digital humanities as a field in response to the experimentation and incorporation of digital methods, with an emphasis on extended reality (XR) technologies, for conducting humanities research in relation to arts and culture-based organizations. I investigate the advantages and disadvantages digital tools bring to the field of Art History today. In particular, the project focuses on modes of publishing, display, and information-capture in museums and archives that illustrate a break from “traditional”1 models. In doing so, I argue that digital modalities provide a distinctly different 1 Cultural Studies scholarship of the 1970’s and 1980’s conducted by Raymond Williams, Catherine Bell, Clifford Geertz, and Victor Turner, among others, redefined understandings of the term “traditional,” as a notion that is no longer fixed, but an iterative performance that ii paradigm for epistemologies of art and culture. Extending previous research in museum studies and media studies, I address a selection of the latest technological interventions within museum and cultural heritage contexts that operate within a spectrum of immersive modalities and use extended reality technologies. The dissertation brings together many humanities disciplines to investigate how sharing XR within a museum both disrupts and complements the time-tested benefits of object-centered methods of display, representation, and education. The phase “virtual actualities” within the title of the dissertation signals changes in practice that are being brought about as digital technologies, and particularly XR, become incorporated into fields of arts and culture. “Actualities” connote the practical matters associated with producing, presenting, and preserving digitally immersive materials in the contexts of gallery, library, archive, and museum (GLAM) organizations. “Reality” in turn is reserved for the qualities perceived when discussing the characteristics that define 3D and XR production. At the fore in addressing new topics in museum practices and by conducting new experimentation through the application of immersive technologies, this dissertation can offer new information for digital art history, cultural heritage, and museum studies. The aggregation of examples throughout the dissertation aims to provide a survey of the field of XR in its current state within GLAM settings in order to offer insight and guidance for future development and implementation. attempts to recreate an event or process based on collective memory. In this instance, I use the term “traditional” to refer to non-digital methods connected with the practice of visual studies and established lineages of practices within the discipline. iii The dissertation of Francesca Albrezzi is approved. David Delgado Shorter Johanna R. Drucker Steven Franklin Anderson Allen Fraleigh Roberts, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2019 iv For my partner, John. Thank you for the unending amount of love, support, patience, and snacks. In loving memory of Mary (Polly) Nooter Roberts and Norman Hollyn. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I: INTRODUCTION AND FOUNDATIONS ..................................................1 CHAPTER 1: ON DIGITAL HUMANIST AS BRICOLEUR: METHODS, METHODOLOGY, AND MOTIVATIONS ...............................................................................................................9 CHAPTER 2: ON DIGITAL HUMANITIES AND DIGITAL ART HISTORY .............................. 26 CHAPTER 3: ON MUSEUMS IN THE DIGITAL AGE .......................................................... 54 CHAPTER 4: ON WAYS OF SEEING AND TECHNOLOGIES OF VISION ................................ 70 PART II: DISCUSSIONS ON THE DIGITAL AND XR IN MODES OF PUBLICATION, DISPLAY, AND INFORMATION CAPTURE FOR THE ARTS AND CULTURE FIELDS ...................................................................................................................................... 90 CHAPTER 5: FOR PUBLICATION: PAST, PRESENT, AND POSSIBLE FUTURES FOR THE ARTS AND CULTURES FIELDS ....................................................................................................... 91 CHAPTER 6: FOR DISPLAY: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITION PRACTICE FOR XR WORK .......................................................................................... 141 CHAPTER 7: FOR POSTERITY AND PEDAGOGY: USING 3D MODELS AND 360 CAPTURE TO PRESERVE EXHIBITIONS AND TEACH MUSEUM STUDIES ............................................. 188 PART III: CONCLUSIONS...................................................................................... 229 CHAPTER 8: XR IMPLEMENTATION CHECKLIST: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING XR INTO ARTS AND CULTURE SETTINGS .......................................................................... 230 APPENDIX A: GAP ANALYSIS RUBRIC BY JASMINE L. CLARK.................. 257 APPENDIX B: EXAMPLE EQUIPMENT EVALUATION SPREADSHEET FOR PORTABLE VR CART FOR ROLFE LAB AT UCLA .......................................... 261 APPENDIX C: XR IMPLEMENTATION CHECKLIST ....................................... 262 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 266 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: A list of conferences and working groups researching the use of 3D and XR technologies for arts and culture research and learning. vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Screenshot of the Industry of Uplift Exhibition Website taken by the author on February 22, 2019. Figure 2: Screen Shot of Weaving Generations Together 360 Exhibition Prototype Using Google Tour Creator. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of so many people. In particular, I would like to thank my committee, Allen F. Roberts, David D. Shorter, Johanna R. Drucker, and Steven F. Anderson for their guidance and inspiration. I felt truly lucky to work with each one of you and the work was all the better for your immense efforts and incredible expertise. I want to especially acknowledge Mary (Polly) Nooter Roberts, who also served as a committee member for a large portion of the project and whose mentorship and legacy I will continue to honor in my future endeavors. Kristina Golubiewski-Davis and Steve Sato, thank you for sharing your thoughts and knowledge with me and for letting me share them with others. The conversations we had were invaluable to the work and I hope we continue to have many more like them in the years to come. Likewise, thank you to Jasmine L. Clark, Andrew Jessup, and Shan Vartanian for sharing your work with me and allowing me to discuss and share it within the dissertation. I look forward to continuing to learn from your examples. Additionally, I am thankful to Miriam Posner and Patricia Greenfield, who gave me the opportunity to capture exhibitions in 360° and build my understandings through praxis. I am grateful for the opportunity to complete my degree at UCLA, and I want to thank my department, World Arts and Cultures/Dance (WACD), for their support. In this regard, I would like to acknowledge our previous Chairs, Angelia Leung and Lionel Popkin, and our current Chair, Dan Froot, for their tireless efforts to lead such a unique and special department. To the faculty of WACD, thank you for sharing your incredible work and expertise. It has been a pleasure to learn from you. To my fellow WACD colleagues, it has been a pleasure to learn with you. Thank you to the entire department’s staff: Lynn Tatum, Tiffany Long, Hayley Safonov, ix Megan Taylor, Marcia Argolo, Arsenio Apillanes, Erica Angarano, Mark Goebel, Ginger Holguin, and Will O'Loughlen for answering every question, supporting every project and performance, and sending out countless reminders for deadlines and events – you make all the difference. In addition, I am truly grateful to have received the following support over these many years: Graduate Division CTR Funding 2019, Kress Foundation/ CAA Fellow (2018), CS3DP Scholarship (2018), UC HRI Grant Recipient (2017-2018), HASTAC Scholar (2016-2018), Faculty Women’s Club Scholarship (2016-2017), Philip & Aida Siff Fellowship (2016-2017), Registration Fee Grant (2016-2017), WACD Scholarship 2015-2016, Teruko Kubota Memorial Award (2015-2016 & 2012-2013), Kress Travel Grant (2015, 2014, 2012), WACD Scholarship (2014-2015 & 2013-2014), Dean's General Scholarship (2013-2014), Kress Foundation Grant (2012-2013), Graduate Division Fellowship (2012-2013). I could not have completed this work without the opportunities each one of these honors, grants, and awards have afforded me. I would also like to thank several other departments and programs at UCLA that have shown me incredible support, including the Digital Humanities Program, Humanities