Capriccio Alterations

by 

Cake Pimlada Bunluthangthum

Capriccio

by

Marco Ricci

1676

Alteration 1Changing the space by deleting all the existing people and introducing other human figures to impact the space by changing the narrative. 

Original painting and diagrammatic reading

The original painting presents an ambiguous view where various narratives may be interpreted different according to each individual. The diagrammatic reading is my personal interpretation of the narrative of the space by analyzing the foreground, mid ground, and background of the space as well as the details the human figures that hints a certain narrative. In addition, the narrative of this painting that I interpreted in the original painting is a utilitarian space where people come by to do their regular daily routine/ household chores; today, judging from the cloud and lighting, a storm is approaching while the background reveals light, which symbolizes the curious hope unknown as the stairs ascend mysteriously. 

Gezicht op Delft

by

Johannes Vermeer

1659-1730

Alteration 1
Changing the atmosphere of the painting through adding in foreign object of a dome and adjusting the lighting to being dimmer in order to create a new narrative to the painting,

Original painting and diagrammatic reading

The original painting shows ambiguous narrative of an abandon part of town where people standing on the land are people who are exiled and are looking back to the prosperous side of the land. Another interpretation would be where the empty side is the residential side where people have to cross over daily in order to get their daily needs since the other side is the working/ producing side of town. 

Cake's Capriccio Pinup

Capriccio by Marco Ricci

The original capriccio by Marco Ricci painted in his lifetime between 1676-1730. He is a Baroque painter and most of his work includes paintings of landscape with ruins and figures because he thinks that when viewers see ruins and the figures he portrays, they would be encouraged to think about the future by learning from the past. 

The analysis diagram of Marco Ricci's capriccio where I analyzed the spatial characteristics by layering it according to distance and drawing a perspective line to see the painting clearer. I also describe the narrative of the painting through the use of texts. For this one, the narrative is another regular day in the ruins with an odd contrast between the dark storm approaching and the calm scenery of the enlightening stairs ascending to the curious unknown.

This is the best capriccio that I like because with a slight change of just adding a pope, guards, and two middle class women and deleting the rest of the original people out, the atmosphere changed to being rather private space divided by hierarchy. It expresses the power of the pope and that the space portray in the painting is not accessible to everyone, which means that it is private for the pope only. However, the narrative I tried to create is that people have to dress their best in order to come here and consult the pope while the guards are present. 

                                           Alterations of the Capriccio

Creating a new world that looks like an underwater world with slightly a few lighting adjustment to create a new story that the people are contained in this space, controlled by an authority figure above the dome. Also, it looks not realistic because now that the scene is indoor, it doesn't make sense to do laundry inside the dome. 

Changing the lighting, contrast, hue and saturation in order to create a gloomy yet mysterious atmosphere. In order to contribute even more to the atmosphere, I tried adding grave stones and deleting the running water from the sculpture in order to turn the scene into a graveyard where all you can hear is just the silence and the wind.

This is an attempt to change the atmosphere spatially by increasing the height of the first arch ruin to make it look massive like the viewer (if put into the painting) would appear to be very small in scale in comparison with the arch. 

Similar to the previous one, this is another attempt to change the atmosphere spatially by increasing both the height of the arch ruins. In doing so, I covered the sky by using the stamp tool to make the entire scene appear to be massive with less ventilation. 

Creating an ambiguous narrative to change the atmosphere by adding more people to the scene to make the space utilitarian. Such addition includes adding the pope and his guards in the background and adding more casual working class people in the mid ground and foreground. This is to express 2 different stories. The first story has the atmosphere of a mad world where people do not respect the pope since they still continue doing what they're doing even when the pope enters the scene. Conversely, another story has the atmosphere of the pope being mad instead since he and his friends are fake and pretends to rule the community while everybody else is normal and nonchalant. 

Deleting all the people to create an atmosphere that is abandoned with the sound of nothing that hints life except for the sound of water pouring. 

Deleting most of the original capriccio and adding another scene to it in order to portray that something else is behind there and change the atmosphere into sort of like one of the destinations that act as a pier for people to stop by and trade goods and etc. In doing so, I adjusted the color of the picture added to the capriccio to make it compatible with the original one. 

Changing the atmosphere acoustically by deleting the water from the sculpture and the original people in the capriccio and adding a new group of people playing orchestra to change what the viewer would hear (from the sound of water pouring to the sound of the music from the orchestra) if they were in the painting.

In this alteration, I made an attempt to create a more modern scene that looks like a pier is adapted from the ruins in an older time. The method I used is deleting the original background and adding another image in to match the perspective of the capriccio. Then, I adjusted the lighting of the painting. 

This alteration is the opposite of the original capriccio since I changed the lighting and the background in order to create a sunny atmosphere where the day is perfect for people to work and do their household chores under the ruins. 

This alteration is similar to the chosen capriccio except for adding more people to the space in the mid ground to show that this space is utilitarian and also to show the feeling of respect and dependence people have towards the pope. 

Changing the atmosphere by adding another space deep into the center to shift the attention from the sculpture on the right to this space that suggests another mysterious space inside the ruins. However, in this narrative, that space does not look accessible to working class figures portray in the capriccio. 


   
Gezicht op Delft by Johannes Vermeer (1659)

This is the original capriccio in the year 1659 by Johannes Vermeer called Gezicht op Delft. Vermeer is known as the painter who likes to paint the life of middle class people inside a space. 

This is an analysis diagram of the original capriccio where once again I layered the painting according to the distance, which is shown through numbers. I also drew the perspective line, which shows that this painting also has a play in the perspective. The people on the bottom side of the painting are shown very clearly. However, the people on the other side are circled since it wasn't clear to be seen. I came up with the narrative to this capriccio in two different scenarios. The first scenario is an atmosphere where the people in this painting on the empty land are middle class people who have been exiled from the town side, which is the prosperous side. This is also symbolized in this painting through the color of the sky above each land, which represents different atmosphere; the sky on the town side is bright where as the sky on the empty side is dark. This contributes back to why the people look back across the river with great desperation. The second scenario is that the empty side is the residential side of the city and the other side is the side where people go daily to access their needs such as to work, to get food, to run errands and etc. Personally, the second scenario is more believable to me since the people in this capriccio are middle class people, judging from the way they dress and it doesn't make sense for middle class people to be exiled. 

This is the best capriccio after all the experimentation I did with Vermeer's capriccio. The methods I used was just to change the lighting and saturation of this photo to create a rather dark and isolated atmosphere. Then, I added a large dome structure in the background in order to express the idea of a narrative where this is the day in the future where people are contained in one space that is limited by the dome and that they just have to live with it. This alteration made me question what is real and what is not. I really like this alteration because I think that with this gigantic dome, the atmosphere of the capriccio changed to being trapped in a claustrophobic world. 

      
                                Alterations of the Capriccio

Changing the atmosphere to an abandoned and isolated land where it is always dark. To do that, I deleted all the people present in the scene. 

Changing the lighting and also adjusting the color of the sky (sunrise) and the water in order to create an atmosphere of a more livable world. 

For this alteration, I kept the least I could in the original capriccio, which is the empty piece of land and deleted everything else out and then add a new scene to the capriccio to create an atmosphere of a prosperous transit station for people to trade or rest before they continue their journey. 

This one is done to contribute back to the narrative I gave to the original capriccio. It is odd how the highlight of this painting is usually straight to the center where the prosperous town is built and I shifted it to be the small empty land instead. This is create a narrative that the town is now abandoned and that this new empty piece of land is the new hope to a new life for everyone. 

Changing the scene into a more modern scene similar to the atmosphere in Venice by adjusting the saturation of the capriccio and deleting the original figures and adding a more modern looking tourists to the scene along with boats. This alteration gives me the atmosphere of joy. 

Deleting the body of water to create an atmosphere of a deserted town in complete silence. 


Overall, my method is to create a new narrative through the change of people and the scene. 

                                  3D fictional space renderings

This is my attempt to use Rhino and render the capriccio and creating a different atmosphere to it. 

Case Study

The experience I'm interested in creating is an overwhelming spacial experience of misguidance. The space should make the visitors question reality and feel controlled and forced to conform. The space I'm thinking of creating has to be totally "dramatic and theatrical that it makes people overwhelm and then surrender".

These are the case study I'm interested in:
1. Mansion 7- Bangkok, Thailand
I like this case study because I feel like in one space, it is interesting how it gives such different atmosphere. For example, this space is built inspired by the idea of a haunted mansion and the feeling of horror. However, they have the space not only for haunted house, but for playground with food and drinks shop, garden for fashion boutiques, and mansion for partying. This place gives you multiple experiences through one space. It is more effective to come here once, which is why the amount of people coming to this place is diminishing. I would like to create an experience where people should be here once and not only experience one thing, but many things that doesn't necessarily happen at the same time.

2. The Liberty Hotel- Boston and Malmaison- Oxford, England
I chose this case study because I like how both places changed from actually being a prison in the old days and now renovated into a hotel that gives the experience of the atmosphere of being in the prison by having steel structure of gridded interior and etc. This case study might not be the most effective one, but I chose it because I am trying to relate it to the experience that I want to create, which is the feeling of containment.

3. Jules Underwater Lodge- Puerto Rico
I find this hotel very innovative and exotic and it is definitely meant for an experience that contributes back to the experience I'm hoping to create in a sense that it deals with people being somewhere they can't control. If I was in this hotel underwater, I would probably feel anxious, but at the same time excited since it should be a wild experience that you are worried about that something wrong might happen, but somehow you still want to try it for once. Everybody feels anxious to not knowing what will happen and not being able to control the situation. I think it is a powerful place for an experience.

4. Counter- strike
This is a simulation game, which gives you the feeling of suspense. I'm not sure if this case study is significant for the experience I will try to create, but I do find it fascinating how a simulation game gets you into the atmosphere portrayed inside the game this much. Even when the experience you get from this game is quite violent, it still is interesting to study how they accomplish to give such an experience to people.

More updates on the Capriccio (so far) :

Manipulation #8: The background is deleted in order to suggest another indoor space inside the ruins.

Manipulation #9: The two domes are added on top of each ruin to make the space covered as well as with the original sky color, the space looks like underwater world where in this fantasy world, people are contained safely from whatever is outside. 

Manipulation #10: The ruin of arch closest to the viewers was extended to emphasize the massiveness of the arch compared to the human scale of the characters inside the capriccio as well as the eye level of the painter/ viewer inside the space.

Capriccio #2: View of Delft- Johannes Vermeer

Original capriccio: As the middle class men and women waits at what they call the pier to cross from their homes to work or shop on the prosperous side of town.

Manipulation #1: Deleting the body of water to create a  deserted land where a prosperous town grows.

Manipulation #2: Deleting all the people present in the capriccio and adjusting the brightness of the capriccio in order to express the story of an empty, isolated town that was abandoned.

 Manipulation #3: Changing the color of the water and the sky in order to express a more livable condition to the people on both sides of the land.

 Manipulation #4: Changing the focus to be on the small bottom of the painting instead of the center by darkening the prosperous town to portray the abandonment of the town and the new hope set on this side of the empty land that is counted on to grow in the future.

 Manipulation #5: Turning the entire atmosphere to a more saturated color to express the modern day of this entire scene becoming a tourist spot where tourists cross from side to side by service boats.

Marco Ricci's Capriccio

 

The original one: 

Description: Another regular day in the old ruins with an odd contrasting atmosphere between the dark storm approaching and the calm scenery of the enlightening stairs ascending to the curious unknown.

Manipulation #1: A sketchy trial of deleting the background, which to me makes the painting looks like a collage.

 Manipulation #2: Changing the background by adding a picture of a calm, morning sky to create a brighter atmosphere unlike the original capriccio, which looks mysterious; this one aims to invite people into using the space surrounded by the ruins.

 Manipulation #3: Using the original capriccio and contributing to my sentence, adding the figures of the pope and his guards surrounding him along with 2 female villagers kneeling in front of the pope. This aims to express the hierarchy of the space in the capriccio as a society where the stairs leads to the pope, as well as the entire space shown, which is forbidden from the common people. My intention is to communicate the privacy of the space and the silent atmosphere.

 Manipulation #4: Similar to the one above, but with the difference that I added more people into the space to show that the space is accessible to all, which means that it is utilitarian and that everyone have the opportunity to communicate to the pope.

 Manipulation #5: Changing the acoustic properties of the capriccio by erasing the water that drips from the fountain and adding in the center, a group of orchestra players at a long lunch table to make the viewers hear that orchestra noise instead of the dripping of water and the sound of the wind.

 Manipulation #6: Adding more people into the capriccio and creating a mad world where people are everywhere and even when the pope is walking down the stairs, the people still remain busy what with they are doing without giving the slightest attention to the pope. It communicates the ignorance people have towards the pope. Or it can even be ambiguous that it can be the other way around where the pope is crazy instead and the people are just their normal selves on a regular day.

Manipulation #7: Changing the hue and saturation as well as the brightness of the capriccio and creating a gloomy and supernatural atmosphere similar to the feeling of watching a vampire movie. Also, adding the graves onto the center of the capriccio to express sorrow and the cold wind in the air.