Linen Boxes and Slices: Raoul De Keyser and American Modernism in Belgium in the 1960s and 1970s

Before his international breakthrough shortly before the turn of the century, Belgian painter Raoul De Keyser (1930–2012) had a long career that reaches back to the 1960s, when he was associated with Roger Raveel and the so-called Nieuwe Visie (New Vision in Dutch), Belgium’s variation on postwar figurative painting that also entails Anglo-Saxon Pop Art and French nouveau réalisme. Dealing with De Keyser’s works of the 1960s and 1970s, this article discusses the reception of American late-modernist art currents such as Color-Field Painting, Hard Edge, Pop Art, and Minimal Art in Belgium. Drawing on contemporaneous reflections (by, among others, poet and critic Roland Jooris) as well as on recently resurfaced materials from the artist’s personal archives, this essay focuses on the ways innovations associated with these American trends were appropriated by De Keyser, particularly in the production of his so-called Linen Boxes and Slices. Made between 1967 and 1971, Linen Boxes and Slices are paintings that evolved into three-dimensional objects, free-standing on the floor or leaning against the wall. Apart from situating these constructions in De Keyser’s oeuvre, this article interprets Linen Boxes and Slices as particular variations on Pop Art’s fascination for consumer items and on Minimalism’s interest in the spatial and material aspects of “specific objects”.

The visual arts

The visual arts, as compared to the performing arts, are defined by their static nature as fixed objects. However, visual art objects often have a ‘dual static/dynamic’ nature that allows them to convey a sense of both motion and emotion, especially when they depict human models. As a result, such objects appear to viewers as frozen snapshots of ongoing actions or gestures. The most art-specific process for the visual arts is the production of two-dimensional images. Compared with the production of three-dimensional objects, two-dimensional images require a dimensional reduction in order to create a flattened representation of a scene on a surface. Drawing is thus the ultimate visual arts activity.

Fabrication Methods of the Polygonal Masonry of Large Tightly Fitted Stone Blocks with Curved Surface Interfaces in Megalithic Structures of Peru

The article suggests methods that allow creating the most complicated type of polygonal masonry found in Peru. This masonry consists of large stone blocks weighing from several hundred kilograms to several tons fitted close to each other almost without a gap between complicated curved surfaces of large area. The work provides a description of techniques, which apparently were used by builders who arrived from Europe. The techniques under discussion are based on the use of a reduced clay model, 3D-pantograph and replicas. The use of a reduced clay model and a pantograph provides not only the unique appearance and high quality of masonry with large blocks, but also allows to significantly increase the productivity of the builders. As machines scaling three-dimensional objects are known since the beginning of the 18th century, the stone structures under consideration should be dated by that and later time. The remaining simpler types of polygonal masonry with smaller stones or fitted surfaces are almost flat, or stones contact with each other by a small area, or there are significant gaps between stones, are quite consistent with the well-known methods of stone processing of those and earlier years, and, therefore, they do not require any additional explanations.

Real-Time Application of Computer Graphics Improvement Techniques Using Hyperspectral Textures in a Virtual Reality System

In virtual reality technology, it is necessary to develop improvements and apply new techniques that allow rapid progress and innovative development. Nowadays, virtual reality devices have not yet demonstrated the great potential they could develop in the future. One main reason for this is the lack of precision to represent three-dimensional scenarios with a similar solvency to what our visual system obtains from the real world. One of the main problems is the representation of images using the RGB color system. This digital colorimetry system has many limitations when it comes to representing faithful images. In this work we propose to develop a virtual reality environment incorporating hyperspectral textures into a virtual reality system. Based on these hyperspectral textures, the aim of our scientific contribution is to improve the fidelity of the chromatic representation, especially when the lighting conditions of the scenes and its precision are relevant. Therefore, we will present the steps followed to render three-dimensional objects with hyperspectral textures within a virtual reality scenario. Additionally, we will check the results obtained by applying such hyperspectral textures by calculating the chromaticity coordinates of known samples.

A pilot study on the use of 3D printers in veterinary medicine

Additive manufacturing (AM) is the process of joining materials to create layer-by-layer three-dimensional objects using a 3D printer from a digital model. The great advantage of Additive Manufacturing is to allow a freer design than traditional processes. The development of additive manufacturing processes has permitted to optimize the production of the customized product through the modeling of the geometry and the knowledge of the morphometric parameters of the body structures. 3D printing has revolutionized the field of Regenerative Medicine because, starting from computerized tomography (CT) images and using traditional materials such as plastic and metals, it can provide customized prostheses for each patient, which adapt perfectly to the needs of the subject and act as structures support. 3D printing allows you to print three-dimensional porous scaffolds with a precise shape and chemical composition suitable for medical and veterinary use. Some of these scaffolds are biodegradable and appear to be ideal for bone tissue engineering. In fact, they are able to simulate extracellular matrix properties that allow mechanical support, favoring mechanical interactions and providing a model for cellular attachment and in vivo stimulation of bone tissue formation.

Fabrication Methods of the Polygonal Masonry of Large Tightly Fitted Stone Blocks with Curved Surface Interfaces in Megalithic Structures of Peru

The article suggests methods that allow creating the most complicated type of polygonal masonry found in Peru. This masonry consists of large stone blocks weighing from several hundred kilograms to several tons fitted close to each other almost without a gap between complicated curved surfaces of large area. The work provides a description of techniques, which apparently were used by builders who arrived from Europe. The techniques under discussion are based on the use of a reduced clay model, 3D-pantograph and replicas. The use of a reduced clay model and a pantograph provides not only the unique appearance and high quality of masonry with large blocks, but also allows to significantly increase the productivity of the builders. As machines copying three-dimensional objects are known since the 18th century, the stone structures under consideration should be dated by that and later time. The remaining simpler types of polygonal masonry with smaller stones or fitted surfaces are almost flat, or stones contact with each other by a small area, or there are significant gaps between stones, are quite consistent with the well-known methods of stone processing of those and earlier years, and, therefore, they do not require any additional explanations.

ПОРІВНЯЛЬНИЙ АНАЛІЗ МЕТОДІВ ПОШУКУ НАЙБЛИЖЧИХ ТОЧОК НА ЗОБРАЖЕННЯХ ОБ’ЄКТІВ ТЕХНІЧНИХ СИСТЕМ

The subject of the study is the process of mapping the construction of point clouds of technical systems using the algorithm of the nearest points. The goal is to minimize the alignment criterion by converting a set of cloud points Y into a set of cloud points X in a software product that uses an iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm. Objectives: to analyze the properties of input images that contain point clouds; to review the algorithms for identifying and comparing key points; implement a cloud comparison algorithm using the ISR algorithm; consider an example of the algorithm for estimating the approximate values of the elements of mutual orientation; implement software that allows you to compare files that contain point clouds and draw conclusions about the possibility of comparing them. The methods used are: search for points using the algorithm of iterative nearest points, the algorithm for estimating the approximate values of the elements of mutual orientation, the method of algorithm theory for the analysis of file structures STL (standard template library - format template library) format. The following results were obtained. The choice of the ICP algorithm for the task of reconstruction of the object of technical systems is substantiated; the main features of the ISR algorithm are considered; the algorithm of comparison of key points, and also optimization that allows reducing criterion of combination at the reconstruction of three-dimensional objects of technical systems results. Conclusions. The study found that the iterative near-point algorithm is more detailed and accurate when modeling objects. At the same time, this method requires very accurate values and when calculating the degree of proximity, the complexity of calculation by this algorithm increases many times. Whereas the algorithm for estimating the approximate values of the elements of mutual orientation does not require information about the approximate orientation of the point clouds, which simplifies the work and reduces the simulation time. It was found that not all files are comparable. Therefore, the software is implemented, which gives an opinion on the possibility of comparing points in the proposed two files, which contain clouds of points in the structure of the STL format.