RomeLab
Residual Effects

Christopher Johanson

RomeLab: Residual Effects is a 3D publication centered on representing the past. It uses the physical and virtual city of Rome as a point of departure to study the interrelationship between historical phenomena and the spaces and places of the ancient city. RomeLab: Residual Effects was created by interdisciplinary research teams and through lab-based seminars where students of diverse skillsets collaborated, working side-by-side with faculty, to study the ancient city through the use of interactive, multi-player Virtual Worlds and video game technology.

RomeLab: Residual Effects aims to transform the ephemeral experience of ancient spectacle into a digital object fit for experiential analysis. Through short-form, virtual-world-based chapters, the project re-assesses current views on the stagecraft of Roman gladiatorial games, dramatic performances and oratorical displays. It offers curated, critical editions of the surrounding spaces, and experimental, creative explorations that blend map, text, and material forms. The experiential, digital world of RomeLab is highly abstracted. Rather than a Beaux-arts reconstruction, the virtual city in RomeLab: Residual Effects is both an inhabitable graph and a three-dimensional map. It attempts to maintain a high data-ink ratio, focusing attention on sight-lines, viewsheds, location, form, and outline. Texture, polychromy, atmospheric effects, and precise, detailed hypothetical reconstructions are not prioritized in this study. The virtual world offers a means to disseminate, explore, interrogate, and refute arguments that are necessarily space based.

Christopher Johanson is an associate professor of Classics at the University of California, Los Angeles.