Visual echoes: contextual representation of imaginary architecture

This paper asks what happens when readers try to picture architecture described only through words. It considers how people imagine fictional spaces in an age flooded with ready-made images. The act of visualizing imagined architecture draws not just on the text itself but also on each reader’s cultural, educational, and professional background and their exposure to other media. This will help develop methods that can be used in transdisciplinary workshops for improving public engagement. In order to explore this, participants were asked to read two descriptive passages and then draw the two citadels depicted: Minas Tirith (J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings) and Elantris (from Brandon Sanderson’s eponymous novel). Minas Tirith benefits from widely circulated imagery from Peter Jackson’s film adaptation, while Elantris does not yet have a screen version. By comparing these drawings, this paper examines how existing iconic images can shape or constrain individual mental imagery. Thus, the author aims to investigate the interrelationships between text, image, and audience in an era of intensifying visual culture (Rose, 2014, p. 21). This also connects to Jenkins’ concept of convergence culture, of the blurring lines between content creators and content consumers and the complex new relations between top-down media and bottom-up participatory culture (Jenkins, 2008).