2026/05/21 by Ellie Mackin Roberts · 1 voice
Engineering · Arts and Humanities · #Architecture, Modernity, and Design #Architecture and Art History Studies #Architecture and Computational Design
paper · doi:10.1093/bics/qbag026
openalex publication_date 2026/05/21 · openalex created_date 2026/06/20 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
ABSTRACT This article argues that the Parthenon frieze was conceived as a choreographed sequences designed to be experienced though ambulatory viewing rather than a static composition. Building on well-established work demonstrating the frieze required oblique viewing through the colonnade, that viewing was conceptually positive, and such viewing was practically achievable, this article asks what the designers gained from these viewing conditions rather than what was lost. To develop this argument, the analysis employs the zoetrope as a heuristic framework—not suggesting the frieze functions literally as a proto-cinematic or cinematic device, but using these principles to illuminate how architectural sculpture engages the moving body and constructs narrative through sequential visual experience, utilizing five structural principles: sequentially, kinetic activation, rhythmic structuring, compressed duration, and embodied spectatorship. Drawing on phenomenological approaches to ancient art, embodied cognition, and the archaeology of the senses, the article offers a new reading of the peplos scene, the compositional rhythm of the cavalcade, and the temporal structure of the frieze as a whole, demonstrating how the frieze’s restricted visibility and fragmented sightlines are not obstacles to comprehension but features integral to its design.