(IN)TANGIBLE HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

This paper explores the duplicity of seeing based on imagery. Exploring the contrasting interplay of digital and physical, seeing and tactile knowing; it explores the changing knowledge that occurs between a first reading of a scene and new discoveries rendered from alternate readings and negotiation. The paper begins with a reading of site (site analysis) undertaken as part of management planning within a conservation reserve, where function of site and performance of its structures and ecological preservation are paramount. It questions the validity of a simple piece of site furniture and its surrounds, discovering that the reality is more complex than first appears. It then moves to explore findings generated from onsite encounters, questioning the value of preconceived ideas and the imagery that constructs them, before concluding with a discussion on the forms that might best represent the meaningful objects and places encountered. Drawing on theories of eidetic images, material culture and narrative analysis this paper explores the diversity of meaning when image is grounded in site dwelling and exploration of the intangible. The result is an awareness of the duplicity of design image revealed through different lenses of knowing. Can design representation and digital imagery be made to reveal the intangible values of memory and contact born over time? Might eidetic imagery enrich perceptions and site in a meaningful way?