Empty Boxes? Modeling the Lost and Ephemeral in Premodern Sacred Spaces

Surveying a gap in the literature, this conference aims to decenter the categories of durable evidence that usually form the basis of reconstruction in favor of those materials and actions often excluded from the historical and historiographic archive due to their ephemerality. Our speakers attempt to answer the question:

How do we responsibly approach recreating transient features and enliven our often-vacant digital models?

Models constitute a frozen image, necessarily in conflict with such activated sacred space. Despite this seemingly contradictory polarization, producing “snapshots” of activated spaces enriches our understanding and documentation of the past.

Four key manifestations of ephemerality in modeling are explored through the conference sessions: the use of textual and documentary sources in reconstruction, the aesthetics of the uncertain, simulating acoustics and ephemeral materials, and new approaches to qualify and model sensory experience.

Please follow the event also online on our Vimeo Channel:
29.05. https://vimeo.com/event/4944988
30.05. https://vimeo.com/event/4944990

Program

MAY 29, 2025

9:15
Tanja Michalsky (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI)
Welcome

9:30
Chiara Capulli (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI), Vera Grund (Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom), Klaus Pietschmann (Universität Mainz), Kris Racaniello (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI/CUNY, GC), Tobias C. Weißmann (Universität Mainz and Universität Zürich)
Introduction

Sources
Chair: Elisabetta Scirocco (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI)

09:50
Eduardo Carrero Santamaría (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Liturgical Ordinaries as a Source for Not So Empty Boxes

10:30
Gianluigi Viscione (Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna), Gaia Ravalli (Università degli Studi di Firenze), Marco Toffanin (Università degli Studi di Padova)
In medio ecclesiae: arte, musica e liturgia intorno al tramezzo. Verso la restituzione digitale di tre basiliche mendicanti

11:10–11:30
Coffee break

Spatial Voids: Modeling the Gray Zones (I)
Chair: Chiara Capulli (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI)

11:30
Meredith Cohen (University of California – Los Angeles), Kristine Tanton (University of Montreal)
The Empty Box as a Workspace: The Case of the Lady Chapel of Saint-Germain-des-Prés

12:10
Donal Cooper (University of Cambridge), Fabrizio Nevola (University of Exeter)
Packing Boxes: Reconfiguring Research for the 3D Modeling of Renaissance Church Interiors

12:50
Michela Young (University of Cambridge), Luca Brunke (University of Exeter)
The Rucellai Chapels in San Pancrazio: Developing the Florence4D Workflow for 3D Reconstruction, Focusing on Collaboration and Data Integration

13:30–14:30
Lunch break

Spatial Voids: Modeling the Gray Zones (II)
Chair: Kris Racaniello (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI/CUNY, GC)

14:30
Charles van den Heuvel (Huygens Institute – KNAW and University of Amsterdam)
A Saint on the Move: Modeling and Representing the Ephemeral and Uncertainties in the History of the Procession of the Holy Relics of St. Servatius

15:10
Hanna Christine Jacobs (Universität Bonn)
Remodeling the High-Medieval Double Chapel of Bonn-Schwarzrheindorf: Chances and Pitfalls of a VR-Environment in Research and Teaching

15:50–16:10
Coffee break

16:10
Piotr Kuroczyński (Hochschule Mainz), Jakub Franczuk (Warsaw University of Technology), Piotr Greiner (Pictureworks and SolidGames, Warsaw)
Immersive Heritage: Combining Digital Reconstruction and Game Technology for Sacred Spaces

16:50
John Jenkins (University of York)
“Is That a Photograph?” Responses to the Modeling of St Thomas Becket’s Shrine at Canterbury Cathedral

MAY 30, 2025

9:00
Opening remarks

Digitally Reconstructing the Ephemeral: Music, Sound, and Textile Architectures (I)
Chair: Vera Grund (Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom)

9:10
Hasan Baran Fırat (University of Antwerp)
“A Fool’s Errand”? Reconstructing Historical Soundscapes: Challenges, Problems, and Methods

09:50
Francisco Prado-Vilar (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
Cosmos/Chorus: Ekphrastic Architecture, Immersive Technologies, and the Emergence of the Polyphony in the Horizon of the Year 1200

10:30
Camilla Cavicchi (CNRS), Philippe Vendrix (CNRS and Centre d’études supérieures de la Renaissance)
MusHerMes – Musical Heritage Messenger. Musical Heritage, Non-Spaces and Sustainable Tourism

11:10–11:40
Coffee break

Simulating Sensoriums: Virtual Experiences and the Problem of Sensory Archiving
Chair: Klaus Pietschmann (Universität Mainz)

11:40
Neta Bodner, Amir Winer (The Open University of Israel)
Simulating Sensoriums in the Medieval Jewish Ritual Bath of Cologne: Real and Virtual Immersive Experiences

12:20
Bissera Pentcheva (Stanford University)
Film, Digital Reconstructions, and Chant in Staging the Spiritual Seeing of the Golden Statue of Sainte Foy at Conques

13:00–14:00
Lunch break

Digitally Reconstructing the Ephemeral: Music, Sound, and Textile Architectures (II)
Chair: Tobias C. Weißmann (Universität Mainz and Universität Zürich)

14:00
Margherita Antolini (Politecnico di Torino)
Staging Quarantore Devotion: A Holistic Approach to Festival Studies Through 3D Modeling

14:40
Janie Cole (University of Connecticut)
Music, Acoustics, and Space in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: Modeling Gorgora Iyäsus Re-Imagined (1626-32)

15:20-15:40
Coffee break

15:40
Stefan Morent (Universität Tübingen), Lukas Aspöck (Universität Aachen)
Sacred Sound/Sacred Space – Virtual Acoustic-Visual Reconstruction of Sacred Spaces of the Middle Ages: Towards Virtual Performance Scenarios

16:20
Augustus Wendell (Duke University)
Tracing Space: Computational Approaches to Studying the Ephemeral with Real Time Game Engines

17:00
Round Table Discussion
Chair: Tanja Michalsky (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI)

Scientific Organization:

Chiara Capulli (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI), Vera Grund (Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom), Klaus Pietschmann (Universität Mainz), Kris Racaniello (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI/CUNY, GC), Elisabetta Scirocco (Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI), Tobias C. Weißmann (Universität Mainz and Universität Zürich)

Promoting Institutions:
Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History
Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom
Research Project CANTORIA – Music and Sacred Architecture
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Universität Zürich