Data Visualization of vestimentary sources
The project Restaging Fashion, situated at the UCLAB (University of Applied Sciences), united approaches and desiderata from three research areas: Art history (dress research), information sciences (digital knowledge organization) and computer science (information visualization). Dedicated to the cultural history of clothing, its appearance and (symbolic) character the project juxtaposes the triad of the sources image-text-dress as a methodological approach to dress research. As a result the REFA-READER, an interactive Data Visualization, offers numerous entry paths into the collection of vestimentary sources.
Forming the core of the project, the paintings collection of the Berlin publishers Franz and Frieda von Lipperheide holds 600 paintings and miniatures from the 15th to the 19th century. In the digital environment, this previously unpublished collection of the Lipperheide Costume Library (Berlin) is juxtaposed with further 1.000 prints and drawings from the collection, as well as textual sources, such as sumptuary laws and archival sources. By generating 3D images of a selection of extant historical garments from the textile collection of Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg, which resemble the dresses in the paintings, the data basis is complemented for comparative analyses.
The collected contextual data created in the project was structured and modeled by using the principles of the digital humanities: CidocCRM as the basic structure, as well as other ontologies, linked open data and vocabularies such as Iconclass or AAT were embedded in the database structure of OmekaS. This enabled for contextualizing research and interlinking between two museum collections.
After asking external researchers from various disciplines to engage with the collections, the team approached the design of the Data Visualization in a collaborative and iterative manner, resulting in the REFA-READER, a combination of narration and exploration. By means of introductory essays, a combination of guided narration and free exploration along the knowledge graphs, the user is offered multiple overviews and entry points.
Partners: Lipperheidesche Kostümbibliothek – Sammlung Modebild, Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) and Textile, clothing and jewellery collection, Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg
