Immersion in The Second Style Wall Paintings: The Villa A, Oplontis

Abstract

Implementation of complex perspective systems in the room decorations of the Ancient Roman villas, located in Naplesand dated around 80 B.C. – A.D. 200, illustrates how art historiography can inform a fundamental framework in newmedia. 360-degree stereovision-friendly application of spatial perspectives in the ancient rooms mediates a relationshipbetween physical and virtual by appealing to the notion ofsensorimotor contingency. The law-like relationship betweenactions that are in adaption with ever-changing sensory inputslands into realization by utilizing suspension of disbelief. Thisbiological phenomenon has been at the locus of interdisciplinaryinquiry, encompassing both archaeological findings inItaly and the immersive technologies of virtual reality.Media theorist Oliver Grau showcases a famous exampleof illusionary spaces in classical antiquity. He examines thetriclinium of the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii where theviewer is immersed in realistic figures in narration. This paperaims to shift the attention from figuration to pure illusionisticrepresentations of cityscapes in atrium 5, cubiculum 11,triclinium 14, and oecus 23 of the Villa A at Oplontis. Coinedby the German archeologist, August Mau, the Second Stylewall paintings mark an application of the trompe-l’oeil effect,which introduces the suspension of disbelief into the physicalenvironment. Convergent and divergent grid systems withvarious points of recession in the rooms of Villa A, Oplontisapproximate a level of immersion; head-mounted display orCAVE systems can now afford in the 21st century.