“Crystal Bodies” of Leonardo da Vinci: Towards an Epistemology of Speculative Interfaces of the Renaissance

Abstract

Modern graphical interfaces define the user's experience according to various metaphorical spectra – bringing it closer to bureaucratic, then to ritualistic, then to magical interactions over reality. The article suggests a view according to which the basis of this metaphor lies in the idea and image of utopia, and the first forms of realization of such utopia by geometric, optical and technical means, taking into account their philosophical, speculative and eidetic orientation belong to the Renaissance. The utopia of such a geometrized and optically verified city is gradually passing into our logic of thinking about speculative cities, possible spaces of life in general, including graphic user interfaces, Leonardo da Vinci's concepts of space, light, physicality, as well as the features of his approach to using the elements to create environments of life are considered in which: 1) technology does not use styles, but is embedded in them; 2) the space of life is organized not by the material embodiment of ideas, but by involvement through geometric and optical effects in the game of ideas, i.e. it is not the visible forms of the city that become important, but the conditions that allow you to see and navigate; 4) the physicality of the utopian optical-geometric project, in its instrumental and behavioral features, becomes the model that subsequent optical media will focus on, up to the invention of the graphical user interface.

Keywords

• corporeality
• leonardo da vinci
• interface
• optical consistency
• space of life
• theater of memory
• utopia
• speculative cities
• politics of mimesis
• magic
• medium
• light