Research project AAA

AAA – Augmented Artwork Analysis. Computer-aided interpretation device for art images

An application designed to be used in front of a painting in a museum – for an enhanced experience of the work of art, for an active relation with the images.

The project at a glance

  • Start date:
    01 Mar 2021
  • Duration in months:
    48
  • Funding:
    FNR / Agence Nationale de la Recherche
  • Principal Investigator(s):
    Gian Maria Tore
    Pierluigi Basso (external)

About

Today, we are surrounded by images – but the school system does not teach us how to read them. Museums work on their conservation, although unhappily they do not seem very attractive to us. On the other hand, the digital is supposed to revolutionize our life, since it seems to give us all kind of power on images and texts, but how to make a groundbreaking approach to images out of it?

“Augmented Artwork Analysis” is an innovative prototype tool, adapted to the museum sector (namely the MNHA of Luxembourg, the Fine Arts Museums of Lyon and of Lille) and allowing to interpret artistic images with the help of software. The aim is to study the different levels (the figures, the colours, the shapes…) of the work of art considered in its original place and within a vast body of images. Attention will be paid to the links between the images and to their evolution. The interpretation thus acquires a scientific dimension, as well as a pedagogical one.

The scientific objective is to bring together the most advanced approaches in quantitative and in qualitative sciences: recent findings in Visual Studies, knowledge about “augmented reality”, i.e. the ways in which computer-generated perceptual information showcases objects of the real world, and methods based on “deep learning”, which means the use of machine learning methods. An international network of more than 20 scholars is gathered for the realization of the “Augmented Artwork Analysis”. Delivering an “augmented” work of art, this tool will be used for guided tours, educational meetings and research. The idea is to create an alternative museum to the traditional museums, and thus a new awareness of the meanings of the world of images.

The project is a cooperation between the French CNRS, the Université Lyon 2, the Université de Liège and the University of Luxembourg funded by the ANR/FNR funding program

Project Team

Principal Investigators

  • Gian Maria Tore
    FHSE

    Gian Maria TORE

    Assist. Professor | Deputy Head of the Romance Studies, Media and Arts | Lecturer/Board member for BTS ‘Cinéma et audiovisuel’
    Language & Linguistics | Communication & mass media | Art & art history
  • Université Lumière Lyon 2

    Pierluigi BASSO FOSSALI

    Professor of Language Sciences
    Scientific Visualization | Informal Logic | Classical rhetoric | Phenomenological psychology | Ancient rhetoric and poetics

Art History / Semiotics Main Researchers

Roxanne Loos
Roxanne LOOS

Guest Professor / Post-doctoral researcher on the “Augmented Artwork Analysis”, UCLouvain – Saint-Louis Bruxelles

Lisa PAILLUSIÈRE

Fine Arts Museums, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Art History & Visual Semiotics

Ralph DEKONINC

Art/theory, Université catholique de Louvain

Sophie RAUX

Professor of Art History, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Picture of Mathias Blan - University of Luxembourg
Mathias BLANC

Research Scientist, University of Luxembourg

Picture of Sophie Doublet - University of Luxembourg
Sophie DOUBLET

Research and Development Specialist, University of Luxembourg

LMCCD Team

  • Thibaut LATOUR
  • Pierre DE LA CELLE
  • Jessica MELDON
  • Ludovic KIEFFER

Serge MIGUET

Professor in Computer Science, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Mihaela SCUTURINI

PhD/Professor (Associate), Université Lumière Lyon 2

Tess MASCLEF

PhD in Computer Science/Deep Learning and image processing, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Tatiana YEMELIANENKO

PhD/Associate Professor, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Julien THIBURCE

Language Sciences & UX – User Experience, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Sofiane DOULFAQUAR

Assistant engineer in data processing, production and analysis, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Université de Liège

Maria Giulia DONDERO

Professor of Visual Semiotics and the Semiotics of Photography

Pierre LECLERCQ

Professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences

Raihana ALLANI

PhD/Professor Associate

Adrien DELIÈGE

FNRS Research Fellow & Fonds assoc.

University of Luxembourg

Marion COLAS-BLAISE

Linguistics & Semiotics Professor

Picture of Andreas Fickers - University of Luxembourg
Andreas FICKERS

Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History

Picture of Sean Takats - University of Luxembourg
Sean TAKATS

Full professor / Chief scientist in Digital History

Lars WIENEKE

Head of Digital Infrastructure

Nicolás Marín BAYONA

Doctoral Researcher

Lena VÖGELE

Specialist in design for user experience optimization

Université Lumière Lyon 2

Gerald NICCOLAI

PhD/Senior Researcher

Organisation and Partners

  • Department of Humanities
  • Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE)
  • Institute of Romance Studies, Media and Arts
  • Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH)
  • Université Lumière Lyon 2
  • Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art du Luxembourg (MNHA)
  • Université de Liège
  • Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille
  • Université Catholique de Louvain
  • Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon