LIGHT AND MATTER, VISION AND IMAGING

The teaching falls among the educational activities of the three courses included in the Minor "Senses, science and cultural expression". The educational objective of the Minor is to provide the basis and demonstrate how the development of scientific knowledge on human perception based on sight, hearing, smell and taste is reflected in different fields, ranging from art to technology and has influenced art and other expressions cultural over the last two centuries. In particular, it will be presented how recent knowledge in the field of physics and chemistry allows us to reproduce and manipulate sounds, images, smells and flavors both for creative/aesthetic purposes and to improve the quality of everyday life and/or the overcoming of sensory and perceptual disabilities.
This course is specifically dedicated to visual perception and image reproduction. The specific objective is to present the scientific bases that explain the modalities of human perception of images and color and how these aspects have interacted with artistic representations in different cultural expressions. To this end, the basic principles of both analogue photographic technique on film and digital will be illustrated, its use for creative and artistic purposes, the use of color in pictorial art will be examined and a perspective on the pigments used in the history of art will be given and in general on the technological possibilities for imparting color to an object.

1. Knowledge and understanding
i) Acquire the knowledge concerning the relationships between the perceptive mechanisms of human vision and the modern methods of image reproduction.
ii) Become familiar with the principles of image acquisition based both on film and on digital sensors.
iii) Understand the working mechanisms of a (photo)camera and learn how to use it consciously.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
i) Understand how the mechanisms of human vision influence the ability to reproduce images.
ii) Know how to use the photographic medium in a conscious and appropriate manner, both for documentary or creative purposes.

3. Ability to judge
1. Knowledge and understanding
i) Know the relationships between perceptive mechanisms of human vision and image reproduction methods.
ii) Know the principles on which image acquisition techniques are based both on film and on digital sensors.
iii) Understand the nature and functioning of pigments and technologies for coloring an object.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
i) Understand the scientific bases that influence the perception of color to communicate through the different artistic possibilities that exploit the visual medium (illustration, photography, cinema).
ii) Knowing how to use the concepts learned to use visual means in a conscious and appropriate manner for the purposes of use (documentary or creative).

3. Judgment skills
i) know how to comparatively evaluate the effectiveness of different image reproduction possibilities.
ii) identify the sensations induced on a psychophysical level by an image.

4. Communication skills
i) Know how to describe the interactions of light radiation with matter and the human eye in scientific terms.
ii) Improve image communication skills.

5. Learning ability
i) Ability to acquire the basic elements on the topics covered by the teacher in class, completing the learning by consulting texts, magazines and IT sources.

Basic knowledge at high school level in the fields of chemistry, physics and art history is required. The student must be motivated by a keen interest in the visual arts (photography, graphics, painting) combined with curiosity in understanding the perceptive phenomena and operating principles of modern technological means used for the production and reproduction of images.

- What is light? Lighting sources and color temperature.
- Light-matter interactions
- The chemistry of color: inorganic compounds and pigments.
- Pigments in the history of art, from cave paintings to modern printing.
- Color perception and mechanism of human vision.
- Tristimulus. Color spaces.
- The chemistry of film and black and white and color photographic prints.
- Photography and digital images: sensors and digital cameras.
- Cinema and colour, the choice of photography.

Lecture notes
Suggested books:
Andrea Frova: Luce colore visione. BUR Rizzoli, 2000 (also e-book).
Sergio Marcelli: Trattato fondamentale di fotografia. Hoepli, 2016 (also e-book)

Oral exam. The student will have to develop a path based on images (photographic, artistic, video) explaining how the image was created in scientific terms and interpreting the message that the author wanted to communicate. Duration of the exam approximately 30 minutes. The grade will be assigned by the sum of the points in the following categories: clarity of the presentation 0 - 5 points, relevance of the topics to the course 0 - 5 points, level of depth of the path developed by the student 0 - 10 points, ability to organically connect different topics covered by the course 0 - 5 points, questions from the teacher 0 - 5 points.

Lectures integrated with practical applicative examples.

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion

Accommodation and support services for students with disabilities and students with specific learning impairments:
Ca’ Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding supportservices and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). In the case of disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

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