Place matters: geographical context, place belonging and the production of locality in Mediterranean Noirs

Scholars have been investigating detective stories and crime fiction mostly as literary works reflecting the societies that produced them and the movement from modernism to postmodernism. However, these genres have generally been neglected by literary geographers. In the attempt to fill such an epistemological vacuum, this paper examines and compare the function and importance of geography in both classic and late 20th century detective stories. Arthur Conan Doyle’s and Agatha Christie’s detective stories are compared to Mediterranean noir books by Manuel Montalbán, Andrea Camilleri and Jean Claude Izzo. While space is shown to be at the center of the investigations in the former two authors, the latter rather focus on place, that is space invested by the authors with meaning and feelings of identity and belonging. From this perspective, the article argues that detective investigations have become a narrative medium allowing the readership to explore the writer’s representation/construction of his own territorial context, or place-setting, which functions as a co-protagonist of the novel. In conclusion, the paper suggests that the emerging role of place in some of the later popular crime fiction can be interpreted as the result of writer’s sentiment of belonging and, according to Appadurai’s theory, as a literary and geographical discourse aimed at the production of locality.

Poetic Storytelling in Contemporary Photography. Relation to Nature and the Poesis of Everyday Life in Works of Selected Artist in Iceland and Other Nordic Countries

The past 20 years have seen a shift in Icelandic photography from postmodern aesthetics towards a more phenomenological perspective that explores the relationship between subjective and affective truth on the one hand, and the outside world on the other hand. Rather than telling a story about the world as it is or as the photographer wants it to appear, the focus is on communicating with the world, and with the viewer. The photograph is seen as a creative medium that can be used to reflect how we experience and make sense of the world, or how we are and dwell in the world. In this paper, I introduce the theme of poetic storytelling in the context of contemporary photography in Iceland and other Nordic Countries. Poetic storytelling is a term I have been developing to describe a certain lyrical way to use a photograph as a narrative medium in reaction to the climate crisis and to a general lack of relation to oneself and to the world in times of increased acceleration in the society. In my article I analyze works by a few leading Icelandic photographers (Katrín Elvarsdóttir, Heiða Helgadóttir and Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir) and put them in context with works by artists from Denmark (Joakim Eskildsen, Christina Capetillo and Astrid Kruse Jensen), Sweden (Helene Schmitz) and Finland (Hertta Kiiski) artists within the frame of poetic storytelling. Poetic storytelling is about a way to use a photograph as a narrative medium in an attempt to grasp a reality which is neither fully objective nor subjective, but rather a bit of both.

Eksplorasi Jukstaposisi Visual dalam Novel Grafis ‘The Photographer’

The Exploration of Visual Juxtaposition in a Graphic Novel titled ‘The Photographer’. Comic as a story book full of drawings is now popular under the name of graphic novel, which in its development begins to vary. A graphic novel titled ‘The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors without Borders’ presents two types of pictorial texts, which are drawings in comic styles and photographic works. The study of this graphic novel aims to explore the visual juxtaposition of the comics and photographs by establishing the graphic novel as the narrative medium in delivering the message and context as well as how they intertwine with each other since there are two types of pictorial texts. The development of technology in photography has made it possible to actuate photography juxtaposed with other visual media which have come to popularity in advance, to blend, and to combine a unique and specific narrative combination. The method employed in this research is a qualitative method that believes in a holistic reality as a result of a construction of comprehension of case by case since the characteristic of each case is different one to another. Besides that, the multimodal discourse is also employed as an approach proportionally to evaluate the effectiveness of the message and the contextual meaning of its visual juxtaposition. Therefore, the result is expected to bridge over the understanding of various visual texts given sequentially by using the approach of multimodal discourse as the instrument for an effective communication in enhancing the visual literacy. ABSTRAKKomik sebagai sebuah buku cerita bergambar yang kini lebih dikenal dengan istilah novel grafis, makin hari makin berkembang keragamannya. Dalam sebuah novel grafis yang berjudul The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors without Borders disajikan dua jenis teks piktorial, yaitu dalam gambar komik dan karya foto. Pengkajian novel grafis ini akan mencoba mengeksplorasi jukstaposisi visual yang berupa gambar komik dan hasil karya fotografi dengan menempatkan novel grafis sebagai media naratif dalam menyampaikan pesan dan makna serta menilik saling keterkaitannya satu sama lain dengan munculnya dua ragam jenis teks piktorial. Perkembangan teknologi dalam dunia fotografi membuat fotografi mampu menyandingkan diri dengan media visual lain yang lebih dahulu populer, melebur dengan saksama, dan menciptakan kombinasi naratif yang unik dan spesifik. Metode yang dipakai dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif dengan prinsip bahwa suatu realitas yang bersifat menyeluruh adalah sebagai hasil konstruksi dari pemahaman terhadap kasus per kasus karena sifat suatu masalah yang satu berbeda dari yang lain. Selain itu, pendekatan kajian dengan multimodal discourse juga akan diaplikasikan untuk meninjau efektivitas pesan dan pemaknaan jukstaposisi visualnya. Dengan demikian, hasil analisis diharapkan akan membantu menjembatani pemahaman teks visual yang hadir secara beragam secara sekuensial dengan pendekatan wacana multimodal sebagai upaya komunikasi yang efektif dalam meningkatkan literasi visual.

Villains and Vixens: The Representation of Female Vampires in Videogames

Vampires populate our culture and have become a recurrent presence in fiction and the media. In all cases the inclusion of the vampire has given voice to “socio-culture issues faced in particular times and places; issues that may otherwise remain repressed” (Dillon and Lundberg 2017, 47). This socio-cultural subtext is complicated when the vampire is female, for she is now doubly othered by her gender. Her monstrosity is seen as twofold: as a vampire and as a transgressive woman. While many studies address female vampires in popular culture, their portrayal in videogames has been recurrently overlooked. Games potentially help shape gender attitudes in thousands of players; therefore, it is particularly relevant to examine the varied representations of these monstrous or othered female figures and to understand how they adhere to or challenge misogynistic readings of women and their bodies. In light of this, and interpreting videogames as a narrative medium, this article provides an analysis of significant vampiric videogames and discusses the female vampire in relation to violence against women and postfeminist agendas, following a narrative rather than ludology approach.

Comic-Based Visual Narratives in Shaping Mass Culture Values

The article is devoted to visual narratives based on comics which form the values of mass culture. Comics are primarily a narrative medium. The subject of the study is the role of the formation of the values of mass culture. Particular attention is paid to the concept of visual narrative through comics and, in particular, its function in shaping the values of the subject of mass culture, because in modern culture, which is opposed to it through print and electronic media, the sense of reality is increasingly structured by narrative (narrative). The main research methods are sociocultural and historical approaches. They allow, based on the analysis of a vast amount of materials devoted to visual narratives and comics, including both foreign and domestic sources, to distinguish and interpret the main structure of the narrative: beginning, middle and ending. It is concluded that visual narratives affect society in key areas. Films tell stories about themselves and the world in which a person lives. Television appeals to society and offers reality in illusory forms. Printed products turn everyday life into history. Advertisements tell about the fantasies and desires of a modern person. The result of the study is the conclusion that visual narratives play a leading role in the formation of the values of mass culture, turning information and events into structures that are already significant for society. The novelty of the study is determined by the new facets of ideas about the phenomenon of visual narrative in the context of cultural knowledge.

Interactive Architecture-Interdisciplinary Design Pedagogy in Shenzhen University

Interactive architecture is deemed as a real-time narrative medium, able to reconnect and renew the relationships between participants (users) and the surroundings to help the explore the irown motivations,inspirations decisions,and outcomes.The sensor based, human-computer (machine) integrated architecture can transform and uplift people’s daily life in entirely new ways, by strategically unlocking the potentials that technological innovations bring. This paper intends to provide a platform for further research and experimentation in the realm of interactive architecture, to encourage rethinking of the relationship between human desires and responsive space (physical or intangible) through a brief introduction to interactive architecture, and to explain the original interdisciplinary teaching methods utilized in the thesis project. By reviewing conceptual and practical cases and related theories, the readers can have a primary understanding of the particular subject and may also change their way of thinking and doing architecture. As interactive architecture is still in its beginning stage, many explorations and related methodologies need to be put in a theoretical framework. Therefore, the author of this paper strongly suggests formulating a comprehensive framework in order to guide the future generation of architects for sustainable urban development.

Editorial

This issue of CITAR (Journal of Arts Science and Technology) is especially devoted to what we designated as Marginalized Narratives. It is a special issue that collects studies published upon the 5th Colloquium on Narrative, Medium and Cognition, held at the University of Algarve in November 2018, and which was focused on that topic.

Spatial Organization and Semantic Modelling of Historical Data

This article presents the methodological framework and the first results of the research towards the spatial organization and semantic modelling of the work of the French Scientific Mission (1828-1829), the first systematic mapping of the Hellenic State. Ultimate goal of this research is to create an integrated spatial database that incorporates the geographic information from the historical maps enriched with multimedia and texts from the published work of the Mission. For this, the technological approaches suggested by the Semantic Web have been followed introducing the concepts of semantic interoperability and geographic data models in the management of historical data. Eventually, the historical map becomes the medium on which the historical data are organized as well as the narrative medium that conveys the historical knowledge to the wider public illuminating the status of the Hellenic State at the time of its establishment, from a spatial point of view.

Some Distinctive Features of Narrative Environments

This paper explores key characteristics of spatial narratives, which are called narrative environments here. Narrative environments can take the form of exhibitions, brand experiences and certain city quarters where stories are deliberately being told in, and through, the space. It is argued that narrative environments can be conceived as being located on a spectrum of narrative practice between media-based narratives and personal life narratives. While watching a screen or reading a book, you are, although often deeply emotionally immersed in a story, always physically ‘outside’ the story. By contrast, you can walk right into a narrative environment, becoming emotionally, intellectually and bodily surrounded by, and implicated in, the narrative. An experience in a narrative environment is, nonetheless, different from everyday experience, where the world, although designed, is not deliberately constituted by others intentionally to imbed and communicate specific stories. The paper proposes a theoretical framework for space as a narrative medium and offers a critical analysis of two case studies of exhibitions, one in a museum and one in the public realm, to support the positioning of narrative environments in the centre of the spectrum of narrative practice.