Reconsidering the myth of Daedalus and Icarus

1. Island of Icarus

2. Marjorie Thompson
Game –based learning
Master of Arts
in
Learning and emerging technologies

3. Defined
myth
As
a
dream
of
masses
of
people
Otto Rank
A
Student
of
Freud

4. in
The Myth
of
the birth of a hero
imagination
is
the core
of all myths
He
Writes
how
hero
myths
Are
common
in
all
cultures

5. Christ
Oedipus
Some examples of cultural myths

6. The
Myth
of
Daedalus
and
Icarus
is
well
known

7. Daedalus
was
a sculptor
Legend has it
he fled
Greece
To crete
Because
he killed
his nephew

8. In Crete
He worked
for
King Midas
he built
the maze
the Minotaur
was housed in

9. The myth
has come
to represent
the tragedy
of
Fatherhood
For
Daedalus

10. the folly
of youth
with
Icarus
too headstrong
to listen to his father
He flies
too close
to the sun
and
perishes
in the sea.

11. What
if
Icarus
Did not
Die
But
lived
on
an
Island
where
he fell

12. To create
a new myth
the
island
where
Icarus
fell
and
lived
alone
remembering
his
old
life
and
making
a
new
one

13. Using
virtual reality
to explore
this concept
these ideas
will be used
to create
a
virtual reality
Novel/game
Ernst Schraube
wrote
the
human and machine
interface
can be
understood
by looking
at
the first person subjective

14. Concepts and ideas can be visualized and manipulated in real time
users can meet and collaborate in shared workplaces
the designed product or system can be presented
in a realistic context
(Vosinakis et al, 2013)
virtual reality is conducive to design process and thinking

15. In the paper
Which Competencies Are Most Important
for Creative Expression
Capturing ideas by jotting them down in a notebook
Is suggested

16. This concept is Inspired
by the aesthetics
of virtual reality worlds
Using virtual reality
To capture
and visualize ideas
To bring them
into a cohesive form

17. There are 4 characters
in this presentation
Narrator
Anais lilian
Captain nemo
icarus

18. Four typefaces will be used to represent
the four voices
Narrator in Charlemagne
Anais Lilian in Edwardian Script
Captain Nemo in Blackadder
Icarus in Lithos Pro Regular

19. Anais Lilian is a descendant of Captain Nemo
She lives on the island he built

20. She is an engineer/designer
Who has invented many things to live on the remote island

21. Constantly rebuilding the island never ends

22. I still have Nemo’s submarine, The Nautilus
…………………Here are his patent drawings from
1850’

23. I have discovered a book of ancient sculptures in Nemo’s submarine

24. Strange to find these ancient
statues……
could they have been created by
Daedalus?
Found at a depth of 5
fathoms
Created in grieving memory of
Icarus?
With an inscription in Greek
meaning…
Stand and mourn for Kroisos
now dead
Whom wild Ares struck down
at the battleline's head.
Nemo found several ancient Greek sculptures in his dives and made many notes of his

25. Having created a strange bust of an aviator

26. she found that it emitted sounds
that she had never heard before

27. It is as if it is powered by an unworldly force

28. Without warning the entire room lit up as if energized like some strange space
craft

29. I find myself at a castle fort built by ancient
Phoenicians

30. Other ancient Phoenician architecture
I have visited
similar to the castle /fort
on this island

31. Drawn by the romantic allure and mysterious grandeur of the ancient castle

32. I seek to find out more of why I am here

33. Enormous chains as from an ancient craft form the stairway that leads to the foreboding entry

34. I enter an enchanting room filled with the light from hanging chandeliers
and the fragrance of orchids and roses

35. Light in the chandeliers illuminates my path as I proceed through the great hall

36. Who could have painted these beautiful fish, so brilliant as if painted yesterday?

37. I find a stairway at the end of the hall and proceed to the second floor

38. Morpheus robs of my sleep
in my slumber he comes with his visions
Whispers echo throughout the room and visions of a man’s face floats towards
me

39. Morpheus is more cruel than you know
he brings his visions
a visit to the darkness of hades
where the 3 headed dog
stands guard at the side of Pluto
Hypnos and Thanatos
2 brothers of death
feast at the temple of darkness
Could this visage I see before me be
Morpheus?

40. Father where are you?
bring your quicksilver to the rocks of Apollo
that I would hear the lyre of Orpheus
ring out with the music
of your eyes to sing once again
Yet in another room phantoms of figures float past me and the voice still
speaks

41. In the shadows I see them
the faces of the youth
from islands far from our shores.
they enter believing in the promise of the unknown
their beliefs shattered
as they understand the horror of their fate

42. My father was with me then
in the sunlight of another age
when golden aura permeated
walls where we lived
Sunlight and laughter
filled the echos of our time and we were drunk on the sunlight and
laughter like wine
Another
room
filled
with
more
paintings
Of
dolphins
I read
that the
bright
yellow
Painting
is of the
sun

43. Lessons of my father
The form
of the
good
The sun
is to
sight
as
Good
is to understanding

44. When I fell to the sea dolphins came to my aid
and brought me to this island
where I spent the rest of my days in sorrow
I paint my memories to remember the sun
As I gazed into it
the pure form of beauty and truth

45. Yet in another room more depictions of strange shapes and more voices
Here I divide the light as I prepare the plans for the temple to honor my father

48. As goodness
stands in the
intelligible realm
to intelligence
and the things we know
so in the visible realm
the sun stands
to sight
and
the things we see
Plato

49. Reflection
Many artists have been inspired by the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. Picasso created a series
of etchings of himself as the Minotaur in his studio drawing nudes. Greek Mythology has
inspired the poetry of W. S. Merwin and Ezra Pound.
As Daedalus was a sculptor, I have always been intrigued by him. I wondered if he was a
real person and what type of sculptures he made. I have also wondered about the myth. It is
incredibly sad. At the same time, it made me wonder why Icarus was blamed for what
happened and not Daedalus, as Daedalus was exiled from Greece because he murdered his
nephew.
I also wondered why Icarus could not have survived. If he did survive, what he would have
done, what could his life have been like. There are many parts of this art/design experiment
that are not historically accurate. Plato lived after Daedalus and Icarus but the association
between the sun and the Form of the Good was incredibly interesting.
Using virtual reality as a visualization tool has enhanced my creative process. I have had
these ideas for several years and never really put them together because I felt they were not
cohesive enough. Using these tools has enhanced a sense of synthesis and transformation.
These tools have also cut down on my time to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.

50. The fact that I could photograph the environments from any angle brought the concepts to
life for me. The immersion experience also assisted me with conceptualizing the idea. I really
did not have any idea of what I wanted to do when I began this project but as my avatar
toured the castle the concept of the island where Icarus fell to slowly took shape.
I approach the virtual environment from the point of view of the artist experimenting with
the space. I try to see what motivates me and inspires me to create within the environment.
This is an intuitive process. I try to see where I want to go with it and what I can do with it in
relation to what my interests are. Whether this would motivate someone else I really do not
know. I feel that I would be more interested in teaching at a college level where students
would have the skills to do some of the things I am investigating.

51. References
Epstein, R., Phan, V., (2012). “Which Competencies Are
Most Important for Creative Expression?”,
CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL, 24(4), 278–282.
Jones, D. E., (n.d.) “I, Avatar: Constructions of Self and
Place in Second Life and the Technological
Imagination”, gnovis, the peer-reviewed journal of
Communication, Culture and Technology.
Niedenthal, S., (2009). “What We Talk About When We
Talk About Game Aesthetics”, Authors & Digital Games
Research Association (DiGRA).
Rank, O., (1932). The Myth of the Birth of the Hero and
other writings, Vintage Books, Alfred A. Knoff, Inc. and
Random House

52. Schraube, E., (2013). “First-person perspective and
sociomaterial decentering: Studying technology from the
standpoint of the subject”, Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1755-
6341 Subjectivity Vol. 6, 1, 12–32
Vosinakis, S., Koutsabasis, P., (2013). “Interaction design
studio learning in virtual worlds”, Virtual Reality, 17:59–75
DOI 10.1007/s10055-013-0221-1.
Ward, T., Sonneborne, M. C., (2011). “Creative Expression in
Virtual Worlds: Imitation, Imagination, and Individualized
Collaboration”, Psychology of Popular Media Culture,
American Psychological Association, Vol. 1(S), 32–47
Virtual Reality set constructed in Kitely
Sculpture Island and Computer Castle by Marjorie Thompson
Many 3-D builds by Linda Kellie

53. Images in order of appearance
"Christ surrounded by angels and saints". Mosaic of a Ravennate italian-
byzantine workshop, completed within 526 AD by the so-called "Master of
Sant'Apollinare". Basilica of Sant Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy,
Wikipedia Commons. retrieved from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christus_Ravenna_Mosaic.jpg
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Oedipus and Sphinx. 1808. Oil on canvas.
Louvre, Paris, France.
"Sketchbook of English Landscape and Coastal Scenery,"
by the artist William Trost Richards , at the Brooklyn Museum.

54. Daedalus constructs wings for his son, Icarus, after a Roman relief in
the Villa Albini, Rome,1888.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daedalus
Daedalus and Icarus
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/149560/Daedalus
Minotaur Bust, Roman carving, Archaeological Museum of Athens.
Charles le Brun, Daedalus and Icarus
Oil on canvas, Between 1645 and 1646, Hermitage Museum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daedalus
Landscape with the fall of Icarus (detail) by Peter Brueghel the Elder, ca.
1558. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daedalus
Blond Boy, ca. 480 B.C., retrieved from
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH209/early_classi
cal.html

55. Phillips, L. D., (1852). Steering Submarine Propeller, patent drawings, “400
Years of Subs”, Brayton Harris, NOVA Online, PBS.org retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostsub/history.html
Athens, National Museum, statue from the grave of Kroisos, the Anavyssos
Kouros (Alison Frantz Collection, American School of Classical Studies at
Athens) retrieved from:
https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/publications
/papers/daedalus/chapter2.html
Reggio Calabria, Museo Nazionale Archeologico, bronze hero statue found
in the sea off Riace (photo after Sicilia Archeologica 1988) retrieved from:
https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/publications
/papers/daedalus/chapter2.html

56. View of standing architecture at Achziv. Wikimedia Commons,
“Archaeologists excavate ancient Phoenician port”, Popular
Archaeology, March 2012.
Retrieved from http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/march-
2012/article/archaeologists-excavate-ancient-phoenician-port-city
The Siege of Tyre by Andre Castaigne U.S. Public Domain
Retrieved from:
http://www.alexanderstomb.com/main/imageslibrary/alexander
/index.htm
Copyright 2015 Marjorie Thompson