The Perspective Research Centre (PRC) builds upon a long history of interdisciplinary research into perspective, visual knowledge, media and the organisation of knowledge.
Its intellectual foundations are closely connected with the work of Professor Kim H. Veltman and the research institutions he directed: The Perspective Unit, the Maastricht McLuhan Institute and the Virtual Maastricht McLuhan Institute. The PRC preserves and extends this legacy through research into visual, optical and technical perspective across art, science and technology.
Origins
The intellectual origins of the PRC lie in the recognition that perspective is far more than a method of drawing. It encompasses the ways spatial reality is seen, measured, imaged, represented, transformed and understood across art, optics, architecture, photography, cinema, cartography, scientific imaging, computer graphics and immersive technologies.
Professor Kim H. Veltman played a major role in developing this interdisciplinary understanding. His research connected perspective with Leonardo da Vinci studies, visual knowledge, cultural heritage, media theory and the organisation of knowledge.
The PRC continues this approach by collecting, organising and developing knowledge of the many categories, classes, types, forms and applications of perspective. A central part of this work is Perspective Category Theory, a framework for bringing greater order and coherence to the field.
Timeline
Before 1990 — Foundations in Perspective and Visual Knowledge
The intellectual foundations of the PRC were laid through many years of research into perspective, optics, Leonardo da Vinci, visual systems, media, and the organisation of knowledge.
This work helped establish the idea that perspective should not be understood only as an artistic technique, but as part of a much wider field concerned with vision, representation, measurement, and the structure of visual knowledge.
1990 — The Perspective Unit
Professor Kim H. Veltman directed The Perspective Unit within the McLuhan Program at the University of Toronto. The Unit examined perspective as an interdisciplinary subject connecting art, science, media, communication and cultural history.
1998–2004 — Maastricht McLuhan Institute
Research continued through the Maastricht McLuhan Institute for Digital Culture, Knowledge Organisation and Learning Technology, extending into digital culture, cultural memory, learning technology and the future organisation of knowledge.
2004–2020 — Virtual Maastricht McLuhan Institute
Following the Maastricht McLuhan Institute, the work continued through the Virtual Maastricht McLuhan Institute.
This virtual research environment preserved and extended many of the themes developed in earlier projects, including perspective, Leonardo studies, media theory, digital culture, knowledge organisation, and cultural heritage.
2020 — Legacy of Professor Kim H. Veltman
Professor Kim H. Veltman died in 2020, leaving an extensive body of books, papers, bibliographies, manuscripts, archives and research materials. The PRC preserves and develops this intellectual legacy through the Kim Veltman Archive and related research resources.
2020—Present — Perspective Research Centre
The Perspective Research Centre was established to extend the interdisciplinary study of perspective. Its work includes the Library and Bibliography of Perspective, the Dictionary of Perspective, the Kim Veltman Archive, image collections, educational resources and the development of Perspective Category Theory.
The Art and Science of Perspective
The PRC develops the multi-volume series The Art and Science of Perspective:
Volume 1 — The Past, Present and Future of Visual and Optical Perspective
A wide-ranging introduction to the history, theory, applications and future possibilities of the field.
Volume 2 — Dictionary of Perspective
A specialist dictionary and taxonomy containing more than 4,000 terms and approximately 1,200 perspective types and forms.
Volume 3 — Natural and Visual Perspective
A detailed examination of how spatial reality gives rise to natural appearance and human visual experience.
Together, the volumes support the PRC’s aim of establishing perspective as a coherent interdisciplinary field of visual knowledge.
Continuing Research
The PRC continues to gather, preserve, organise and develop knowledge of perspective through historical research, technical classification, visual resources, publications, talks, courses and original theoretical work.
Its long-term aim is to contribute to the development of perspective science: an interdisciplinary field concerned with how spatial reality is seen, imaged, represented, measured, transformed and understood.