The Spirit of the Cloud: The ‘New Jerusalem’ as a metaphor for social experiences of virtual technologies

Caine, Moshe; Altaratz, Doron; Mann, Eytan; Havkin, Adam

doi:10.14236/ewic/EVA2020.9

ScienceOpen: research and publishing network

For Publishers

For Researchers

Blog
About

Search
Advanced search

2,146

views

recommends

UK Computing Summit 2025: Navigating change (surviving and beyond) - 29-30 April @ Sheffield Hallam University - Register here.

scite_

Smart Citations

Citing PublicationsSupportingMentioningContrasting

View Citations

See how this article has been cited at scite.ai

scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.

Header Abstract Content Author and article information REFERENCES Comments

Record: found
Abstract: found
Conference Proceedings: found

Is Open Access

The Spirit of the Cloud: The ‘New Jerusalem’ as a metaphor for social experiences of virtual technologies

Published

proceedings-article

Author(s): Moshe Caine , Doron Altaratz , Eytan Mann , Adam Havkin

Publication date (Print): July 2020

Conference name: Proceedings of EVA London 2020 (EVA 2020)

Conference theme: AI and the Arts: Artificial Imagination

Conference date: 6th July – 9th July 2020

Keywords: Jerusalem, Church, Synagogue, Point cloud, Photogrammetry, Virtual reality

Bookmark

Abstract

Over the past centuries, the city of Jerusalem has been a centre for social and spiritual experiences of diverse communities separated from their homes and cultures. The crusaders notion of a 'New Jerusalem'; the physical reconstruction of the holy city of Jerusalem in Europe has been reversed and implemented through remote communities who moved to Jerusalem from overseas and reconstructed their home and places of worship. This project aims to express and enhance the dialectical relationship between diverse geographical locations, manifested through lost and reborn communities, the old and the New Jerusalem. Two very different, yet historically linked test cases are explored: The reconstructed Synagogue of the lost community of Conegliano Veneto, Italy, and the Kidane Mehret Ethiopian Church. Both located today in Jerusalem. Through the use of advanced photogrammetry, we attempt to create an emotional experience, transcending time and space and intensifying the complex experience of life in a home away from home. The two structures are recreated as 3D point clouds, enhanced by sounds of prayer and blended with historical imagery. The relationship between technology and meaning can be seen as an extension of the age-old mind-body problem. That is, how the physical and technological process may influence emotion and the subjective experience. The 'Spirit of the Cloud' attempts to bridge this gap by offering a personal encounter, which transcends the objectivity of technology and elevates the subject into a personal spiritual voyage. This is attempted by providing an immersive multi-sensory experience, combining eye, ear and physical interaction. Two integral components contribute towards this: The virtual reality headset and the point cloud audio-visual experience, These aim to create a spiritual voyage, where one may wander at will and experience the atmosphere of a twilight zone, bound neither by space nor time, yet strongly attached to both. The paper outlines the considerations, limitations, and solutions undertaken in the digital recreation of the structures. Likewise, it explores the process of fusing the technical challenge with the desired emotional impact on the user.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Moshe Caine

Doron Altaratz

Eytan Mann

Adam Havkin

Conference

Publication date: July 2020

Publication date (Print): July 2020

Pages: 58-65

Affiliations

[0001]Hadassah Academic College

Jerusalem, Israel

[0002]Scan the City

Tel Aviv, Israel

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2020.9

SO-VID: 3d46ae7a-3ecc-4dd0-a560-440917336297

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of EVA London 2020

Conference acronym: EVA 2020

Conference number: 30

Conference location: London

Conference date: 6th July – 9th July 2020

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: AI and the Arts: Artificial Imagination

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2020.9

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

G Ben-Nathan 2012 The Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem – Debre Genet (Sanctuary of Paradise) [online] https://anglo-ethiopian.org/publications/articles.php?type=A&reference=publications/articles/2012winter/jerusalem.php 21 March 2020
D Cassuto 2012 Synagogues in Italy until the 18th century R Weinstein Israeli communities in the East during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Hebrew Yad Ben Zvi 169 171
A Contessa 2014 From Italy to Jerusalem. The birth of the Umberto Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art R Bonfil The Italian Jewish Cultural Centre in the Heart of Jerusalem Jerusalem
F Fabri 1848 Fratris Felicis Fabri Evagatorium in Terrae sanctae, Arabiae in Aegypti peregrinationem 3
A Isaacs 2005 Modernity Comes to Jerusalem [online] http://archive.jewishagency.org/jerusalem/content/23682 21 March 2020
R Twite 2020 Africa in Jerusalem – The Ethiopian Church [online] https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2003/Pages/AfricainJerusalem-TheEthiopianChurch.aspx 21 March 2020

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] G Ben-Nathan 2012 The Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem – Debre Genet (Sanctuary of Paradise) [online] https://anglo-ethiopian.org/publications/articles.php?type=A&reference=publications/articles/2012winter/jerusalem.php 21 March 2020

[2] D Cassuto 2012 Synagogues in Italy until the 18th century R Weinstein Israeli communities in the East during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Hebrew Yad Ben Zvi 169 171

[3] A Contessa 2014 From Italy to Jerusalem. The birth of the Umberto Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art R Bonfil The Italian Jewish Cultural Centre in the Heart of Jerusalem Jerusalem

[4] F Fabri 1848 Fratris Felicis Fabri Evagatorium in Terrae sanctae, Arabiae in Aegypti peregrinationem 3

[5] A Isaacs 2005 Modernity Comes to Jerusalem [online] http://archive.jewishagency.org/jerusalem/content/23682 21 March 2020

[6] R Twite 2020 Africa in Jerusalem – The Ethiopian Church [online] https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2003/Pages/AfricainJerusalem-TheEthiopianChurch.aspx 21 March 2020

UK Computing Summit 2025: Navigating change (surviving and beyond) - 29-30 April @ Sheffield Hallam University - Register here.

The Spirit of the Cloud: The ‘New Jerusalem’ as a metaphor for social experiences of virtual technologies

Contributors

Conference

Affiliations

Article

History

Product

Categories

Comment on this article