We can now explore History of Art with the help of a CD-Rom that takes us on a universal journey that covers a period of seven centuries. Thanks to the latest multimedial technology, this electronic book makes it possible for us to discover a collection of works, ranging from the Trecento to Contemporary Art, that we would all love to be able see united in a single museum. Published by Mondadori New Media and created and developed by Fabio Ratti, this CD-Rom is entitled "The ideal museum from the Trecento to our times" and can be read with both Mac or Windows systems.
The cover page of the CD-Rom published by Mondadori New Media
We first enter the main room of the museum where we can find the entrances to the seven centuries represented therein. We can pick and choose the art we want to see at will, "fly" from Giotto to Neoclassicism, from Cubism to Mannerism, from Dadaism to European Baroque and then move on to Impressionism, Romanticism or the Early Renaissance.
We can flit from one period to another and are able to appreciate the art works even more thanks to the fact that they come accompanied by background music related to the period under examination. We can quickly pass from Marcel Duchamp, the artist who coined the phrase "Ready-made", to reach the 17th century and Caravaggio, then return to the 20th century, which contains as many as six sections, ranging from Symbolism to Pop Art, with each art work analysed in great detail.
The index helps us choose the art works or periods that we are interested in investigating so that we are able to navigate in the direction of a dimension of temporal space of our choice. As with most CD-Rom publications, we can also print out what we can see on the screen where, apart from the art works, each historical period is accompanied by a geographical map.
A CD-Rom that any of us would be delighted to have, which gives detailed information on some of the most important works of art of our times and which History of Art teachers would certainly find a most useful teaching aid in schools. The minimum Windows configuration is a 486SX-33 computer, Win 3.1, with a sound card and 256 colour SVGA; Mac instead need a 68030/25MHz, system 7.0, with 256 colours; both systems require a double speed reader with speakers.
