Abstract
In late 2024, the tech giant Apple, announced its new operating system was to be equipped with a new AI tool called Apple Intelligence. To demonstrate its capacity, Apple presented several screenshots, a few of which included notes on architectural history lectures as they would appear in one’s phone. One featured the drawing of a Greek Ionic column, while another showed an Indian Chhatri, complete with AI-generated explanatory text. Almost four decades earlier, another tech corporation, IBM, used an image of historical architecture. Here, the goal was to promote IBM’s cutting-edge software used for the reconstruction of the Dresden Frankenkirche, demolished in WWII. The commercial presented a craftsman holding a traditional instrument, while resting his elbow on a screen featuring the image of a 3D computer model of the church. Behind him, a towering crane was slowly reconstructing the actual church. “In Dresden,” the caption read, “freedom rises from the rubble.” This paper takes this two images to open up a discussion about the role that images of historical architecture, play in the framing and promoting innovation. Using these two examples, as well as several others from companies such as Microsoft, AT&T, and Google, this paper will theorize the various roles—as symbol, allegory, or cultural capital—that images of historical architecture can play. Transformed into an instrument of public relations, historical architecture no longer serves as a heritage object, but rather as an asset through which future innovation is placed within the lineage and context of history and materiality.
Presenters
Eliyahu KellerAssistant Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion - Institute of Technology, Israel
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Architecture, Innovation, Technology, Image, History, Heritage
