This December, a number of APAC Labs researchers presented papers at the 5th CBMS, held in Nicosia, Cyprus. Topics ranged from the technical documentation of Cypriot icons to the application of digital platforms in safeguarding cultural heritage. Presenting APAC projects to an international audience of Byzantine and Medieval historians, archaeologists, philologists, art historians, and philosophers allowed the chance to discuss new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
In the session entitled “Visual Culture” on the first day of the conference, PhD candidate and APAC Labs researcher Nicolette Levy presented the paper “Community patronage and the artist Simeon Auxentis in Galata, Cyprus”, which examined a unique case of collective donorship of a 16th-century church in the Troodos massif. Soodabeh Sajadi, a PhD student and APAC Labs researcher, presented the paper “Analytical diagnosis and stratigraphic mapping of an 18th c. Panagia Eleousa icon from Kykkos: considerations on painting interventions and their preservation”, co-authored by Christos Karis, Pengxiao Hao, Andreas Manoli, Stelios Perdikis, and Nikolas Bakirtzis. This paper presented the results of a multi-modal analysis of a Cypriot icon that allowed the object’s complex conservation history to be characterized.
On the second day, APAC Labs researchers participated in two conference sessions dedicated to Digital Humanities applications to Byzantine and Medieval Studies in the context of the ECHOES EU project. In the first session of the day, APAC Labs researcher Dr. Mehmetcan Soyluoglu and Prof. Nikolas Bakirtzis presented the paper “Material and digital approaches to monastic remains: reassessing Sourp Magar Monastery in the Kyrenia Mountains”, co-authored by Rahaf Orabi and Sturt Manning (Cornell U). APAC Labs researchers Marina Faka and Anastasia Tsagka presented the paper “Digital approaches to the Troodos painted churches: the pilot case of Agios Ioannis Lampadistis church”. Prof. Sorin Hermon presented the paper “Knowledge construction and its formal semantic representation in a multi-disciplinary research context – the Nativity 17th century icon from Derynia, Cyprus”, co-authored by Valentina Vassallo and Christina Kakkoura. During the second session, APAC Labs affiliate Christina Kakkoura presented the paper “Ontologies of devotion: structuring the cult of saints in Cyprus”. Phd candidate and APAC Labs researcher Athanasios Koutoupas presented the paper “3D digital documentation of the Shatby Necropolis in Alexandria”, co-authored by Rahaf Orabi. Finally, APAC Labs researcher Dr. Avgoustinos Avgousti presented the paper “Developing multimodal digital Libraries for Byzantine and medieval heritage in the Eastern Mediterranean”.
