From Object to Icon

The decorative programme of Middle Kingdom (MK) Egypt (approx. 2055 1650 B.C.) offers many themes and scenes; all of them feature numerous objects: artefacts like garments, jewellery, furniture, tools, and implements. "From Object to Icon" aims at exploring these artefacts in a threefold manner: a) The two-dimensional representations (icons) will be studied in relation to the three-dimensional artefacts (objects) which they were intended to illustrate, i.e., what kind of objects were depicted and how. This transformation is important because it conveys to the viewer the meaning and the very essence of an object (e.g., a particular type of box) or a certain step in a manufacturing process (e.g., handicrafts). Furthermore, if, how, and when changes in material culture were reflected in contemporaneous art will be investigated, and whether some artefacts and their images were specific to a particular region or whether general iconographical standards predominated throughout Egypt. b) The nomenclature of icons will be analysed in great detail, since many scenes and icons are accompanied by captions explaining the actions performed and naming the objects involved. Therefore, it will be essential to supplement the art-historical and archaeological approaches with an in-depth philological investigation of the accompanying captions. The object designations will be analysed lexicologically and morphologically to obtain additional information on the objects` nature and their specific features. The analysis of what the Egyptians deemed important to express in words in connection with an object and how depiction and caption complemented one another will be equally essential for understanding the Egyptian mind. C) For the assessment of icons, the system of the MEKETREpository, which has been developed in the course of the MEKETRE Project (Evolution of Scene Content and Meaning in Reliefs and Paintings in Middle Kingdom Tombs, Project No.: P 21571-G21), will be extended by utilising crowd sourcing technologies (e.g. Citizen Science, Game With a Purpose). This will provide scholars from other institutions, as well as non-experts with some background in Egyptology, with an easy-to-use platform where they can perform simple repetitive but yet highly helpful tasks, such as uploading images depicting relevant art items, providing annotations, or suggesting inclusion of new thesaurus terms. In order to deal with the Egyptological questions posed, the following, excellently qualified scholars will tackle the project`s specific topics: Ms Lubica Hudkov and Mr Roman Gundacker (PostDocs), and Ms Andrea Kahlbacher (PraeDoc). Their training and expertise in art history, archaeology and philology, enable them to deal with the various aspects of the project at the highest international level of research. Mr Christian Mader (PraeDoc) will be paramount for further developing the MEKETREpository and for pursuing research in the field of quality assessment of collaboratively created Web vocabularies.

From Object to Icon started in 2014 and was a co-operation between the Institute of Egyptology and the Faculty of Computer Science of the University of Vienna. The overall concept of this research programme focused on various and deliberately chosen items (objects) depicted in the decorative programme of Middle Kingdom tombs (ca. 20551650 B.C.). These two-dimensional representations of objects (icons), which constitute an essential part of wall decoration, their content and meaning were explored in relation to the three-dimensional artefacts (objects) which they were intended to illustrate (what kind of objects were depicted and how), in order to convey to the viewer the exact meaning and the very essence of a particular object. Dr. Lubica Hudkov and Ms. Uta Siffert, M.A. two excellently qualified scholars embarked on the Egpytological part of the project in investigating these objects and representations in pictorial representations. Taking into account the pictorial evidence and their designations, the archaeological material (including the models of them), convincingly showed that every single icon of a decorative programme can provide much more information than originally thought. For example, the analysis yielded new results in agricultural processes and especially in gardening scenes and harvesting techniques. Furthermore regional differences as well as artistic devices to differentiate between similar but yet different twinned products were taken into account. Equally, the study of funerary representations yielded new results reflecting the changing concepts of death and the afterlife. Dr. Claus Jurman very successfully collected and studied the nomenclature of the icons wherever captions named objects or explained the process of their manufacture. These object designations were analysed lexicologically and morphologically. For this purpose a complex relational database was created. The analysis shed further light on how the ancient Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom categorised the material world surrounding them and offered a valuable tool for further investigating the relationship between the icons and their inscriptions. Peter Kalchgruber, M.A., took care of the IT-part of the research project developing the MEKETREpository further (meketre.org), in enhancing and updating the bibliographical image database, and pursued research in the field of quality assessment of collaboratively created Web vocabularies. MEKETREpository, now successfully transferred to and hosted at the University of Vienna (ZID), was technically updated to provide easy access and unrestricted usage. Using crowd-sourcing technologies an UPLOAD platform as well implementing Games with Purpose , in order to generate more pictorial material for research purposes, however, proofed ineffective and did not yield the expected results. Apart from the scientific value of the research and the internationally appreciated database (with constant positive feedback) numerous important personnel developments and career opportunities became effective, which equally added to the quality of the research project and the team members. The Austrian Science fund kindly approved a new research project (P 31390-G25), to continue the art-historical enterprise at our faculty (from 2019).