Over the next few weeks we’re introducing the 2014 organizers for THATCamp at CAA 2014. We’ll also be asking speakers and participants from last year’s THATCamp to reflect on their experiences and make connections with what will happen in Chicago next February. They’re all getting involved with the conversation and preparation by answering four questions on the state of “digital art history” today. Comments always welcome.

Last week we introduced Prof. Anne Swartz. Today, we introduce Prof. Hussein Keshani who is also helping to organize THATCamp CAA 2014.

1. What is your current involvement with “digital art history”?

I have four projects that fall within the category of “digital art history” if construed broadly. The project Model Images is examining 18th century North Indian (Awadh) miniature paintings and the architecture and landscapes represented within using 3D modeling software as an analytical instrument. Art Historical discussions of close looking, analytical observation and gaze theory are being used to frame the inquiry. I am also developing a conventional visual database of Awadh visual culture. For the Digital Botanic Garden project, I am part of a team that is working on developing mobile apps that integrate environmental and cultural interpretation at a forthcoming cultural garden at Edmonton’s Devonian Botanic Garden, while critically reflecting on the authoritative construction of knowledge that is taking place. I am also in the process to developing two courses in digital art history, one focusing on modeling and the other on interpretation through mobile apps. Finally, I am a co-investigator on the World Art History Mashup (WHAM) project with PhD student Nathalie Hager, in which we are investigating how to materialize world art history theory into an interface for engaging art on the internet.

2. What is one of the most pressing issues in the field of “digital art history” today?

I am really interested in the unevenness in the digital turn in the humanities and art history and the implications for the kinds of art histories that can be written. What happens to the field as a whole when some specializations have access to digital infrastructure and programming capacity and others don’t? How can digital art history be broadly inclusive?

3. Where do you see innovations happening?

The advances in and mainstreaming of visual and spatial recognition capabilities is especially interesting as is the growing adoption of open-source philosophy by museums.

4. What’s the panel or issue you’d most like to see proposed for THATCamp CAA in Chicago?

I would find a panel on what is gained and what is lost in art history’s digital turn compelling.