In the south information Gallery, there is a film presentation displayed on the end wall of the Gallery (figure 4.50). The film presentation includes two soundless parts which together last about 15 minutes (figure 4.52). The content of the first film is interpretations of how different parts - the metopes, the Ionic Frieze, and the pediments - were placed on the Parthenon Temple. The interpretation of the Ionic Frieze concentrates on the significant meanings of the north Ionic Frieze. Depicted on the marble as continuous figures of chariots and horsemen, the animation analyses the sequences of constitutive layers of the figures on the north face of the Ionic Frieze, which helps to translate the meanings from overlapped marble depiction into highlighted perspectives.
154
In addition to the film presentation, there is a separate text board interpreting the content of the film (figure 4.51). The content of the text board is as follows:
Two computer-generated films
THE SCULPTURES OF THE PARTHENON
One film shows where the sculptures of the Parthenon in the British Museum fitted onto the building. It also includes a sequence that focuses on the horsemen of the procession, looking in detail at how the cavalcade was composed of overlapping figures riding in ranks.
The second film concentrates on South Metope with its scene of a human Lapith fighting a Centaur, a creature that is part-man part horse. It tells the story of the metope and the damage that it suffered before it was rescued by Lord Elgin. It reconstructs its original appearance, adding two heads that are in Copenhagen and restoring the metal attachments.
As the Parthenon sculptures were originally painted, both films suggest possible colour scheme. The two films together play for about 15 minutes.
The themes and intentions of both films are clearly presented through the above text.
Figure 4.40 Interior of the south information Gallery Figure 4.50 Interior of the south information
Gallery (Photo by researcher)
Figure 4.51 Text board of the film presentation (Photo by researcher)
155
The first film mediates the distance between the isolated sculptures and their original context. In addition, it emphasises that the film presentation focuses on the significant detail of the Ionic Frieze through the text. ‘It also includes a sequence that focuses on the horsemen of the procession, looking in detail at how the cavalcade was composed of overlapping figures riding in ranks’.340 The statement of the colour theme on the Parthenon Temple mentioned at the end could also hint to visitors that the Parthenon sculptures were originally painted in colours. The second film successfully interprets the colour theme on one slab of metopes which effectively bridges the distance between the fragmentary sculptures and its original coloured condition.
In addition to this text board introducing the content of the film presentation, in order to emphasise the sequences of the overlapped figures, there is an image board of the content of the first film presentation displayed on the wall next to the animation (figure 4.53). If the general text board introducing the content of the film presentation mentioned above emphasises the significance of the Ionic Frieze by text, then the image board again emphasises the same significance of the Ionic Frieze by image. Therefore, the audiovisual interpretation allows a range of significant meanings of the Ionic Frieze to be constructed and conveyed: as symbols of the Panathenaia festival; as evidence of contemporary detailed marble carving skills. Also, the audiovisual presentations which interpret significant messages is varied from text interpretation into visual film presentation and finally into image. The combination of the text board, the film presentation and the image board successfully helps to interpret significances of the Ionic Frieze, not only in translating meanings, but also in meaningful ways of tangible presentation.
340
156
Removed from the Parthenon Temple and displayed in the British Museum, is there any relationship between the Ionic Frieze and other artefacts in the British Museum? There is one text board in this Gallery interpreting the relationship between the Ionic Frieze in relation to some other significant artefacts in the British Museum (figure 4.54).
The content of the text board is as usual divided into two parts. The upper part is the text, and the lower part is a coloured image with a short explanatory text below. The text introduces the tradition of the ancient craft of representing festival processions of human and animal figures which had already be seen on the Ionic Frieze. The following text introduces how this tradition stretched back to other ancient civilisations, such as the Persian and Egyptian. The coloured image presented in the lower section depicts another significant artefact with representations of human and animal figures. The short text below the colour image introduces the stories depicted on the artefact, the identities of different human and animal figures, and its location in the British Museum. Hence, symbolic cultural meanings contained by the Ionic Frieze are interpreted not only based on their significance in relation to the Parthenon Temple
Figure 4.52 Film Presentation Figure 4.53 Image board Figure 4.54 Text Board of Ionic Frieze in relation to other significant artefacts in the
157
or the Panathenaia festival, but also in relation to the origin and significance of this traditional representation. Messages of these significant artefacts are not separate or hidden any more, but are gradually revealed and developed into continuity over time.