The Perspective Research Centre (PRC) is an independent research and educational centre dedicated to the study of visual, optical and technical perspective across art, science and technology.
The Centre examines how spatial reality is seen, imaged, represented and understood across art history, geometry, optics, visual perception, architecture, photography, cinema, scientific imaging, computer graphics, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. It treats perspective not simply as a method of drawing, but as a broad interdisciplinary field concerned with viewpoint, vision, imaging, representation and visual knowledge.
Origins and Intellectual Heritage
The intellectual foundations of the PRC 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.
Veltman connected perspective with Leonardo da Vinci studies, art and science, optics, visual knowledge, media theory, cultural heritage and knowledge organisation. The PRC continues this wider approach through the collection, classification and investigation of the many categories, classes, types, forms, phenomena and applications of perspective.
A Short Timeline
- Before 1990 — Foundations in perspective and visual knowledge. Research into perspective, optics, Leonardo da Vinci, visual systems, media and knowledge organisation established the interdisciplinary foundations from which later work developed.
- 1990 — The Perspective Unit. Professor Kim H. Veltman directed The Perspective Unit within the McLuhan Program at the University of Toronto, examining perspective across art, science, media, communication and cultural history.
- 1998–2004 — Maastricht McLuhan Institute. Research expanded into digital culture, cultural memory, learning technology and new approaches to organising knowledge.
- 2004–2020 — Virtual Maastricht McLuhan Institute. The work continued as a virtual research environment concerned with perspective, Leonardo studies, media, digital culture, knowledge organisation and cultural heritage.
- 2020–present — Perspective Research Centre. The PRC develops this interdisciplinary legacy through new research, publications, archives, classification systems, visual resources and educational materials devoted specifically to perspective.
Professor Kim H. Veltman
Professor Kim H. Veltman (1948–2020) was a pioneering interdisciplinary scholar whose work connected perspective, art history, science, technology, Leonardo da Vinci studies, visual knowledge, media theory and knowledge organisation. He served as Scientific Director of The Perspective Unit within the University of Toronto’s McLuhan Program and later of the Maastricht McLuhan Institute and Virtual Maastricht McLuhan Institute, where he developed major research programmes and digital resources.
Among his major projects were the Bibliography of Perspective, containing approximately 15,000 titles, and the multi-volume Encyclopedia of Perspective. His interdisciplinary conception of perspective remains an important part of the intellectual foundation of the PRC.
The Perspective Research Centre also maintains the Kim Veltman Archive, preserving more than 400 publications comprising approximately 2.9 million words, including books, major treatises, chapters, refereed papers, articles, reviews and vision statements.
Dr Alan S. Radley FRSA
Dr Alan S. Radley FRSA is the founder and Scientific Director of the Perspective Research Centre. He is a physicist, author, inventor and visual-technology researcher whose work connects optics, astronomy, imaging, visual perception and the interdisciplinary study of perspective.
He holds a PhD in Physics from University College London, where he later worked as a postdoctoral research fellow, and taught physics and astronomy at the University of London Observatory. His technical work has included cameras, telescopes, spectrographs, three-dimensional displays, work connected with NASA and the European Space Agency, and inventions including the Hologram Mirror.
For more than three decades, Radley has conducted sustained research into visual, optical and technical perspective. This work developed into the multi-volume Art and Science of Perspective book series, including The Past, Present and Future of Visual and Optical Perspective, the Dictionary of Perspective, and the forthcoming Natural and Visual Perspective.
A principal outcome of this research is Perspective Category Theory, developed as a framework for classifying and relating the many categories, classes, types, forms, processes and applications of perspective.
Research, Collections and Resources
The PRC brings together historical research, original theory, specialist reference works, visual materials and educational resources. Its principal resources include the Library of Perspective, Bibliography of Perspective and Encyclopedia of Perspective, the Dictionary of Perspective, the Kim Veltman Archive, image collections, diagrams and study materials.
The Centre does not merely catalogue known forms of perspective. Its research also investigates the relationships between visual and optical processes, geometry, viewpoint, spatial appearance, instruments, representations and modern imaging technologies.
Our Long-Term Aim
The long-term aim of the Perspective Research Centre is to help establish perspective science as a coherent interdisciplinary field connecting the arts, sciences, humanities, design disciplines and modern visual technologies.
By bringing together historical knowledge, scientific analysis, visual research, classification and new theoretical work, the PRC seeks to provide a more complete framework for understanding how spatial reality is seen, imaged, represented, measured, transformed and understood.