Where Is Hanuman?

Abstract

The chapter presents the interpretative strategies used by designers of an immersive environment on Hindu mythology and Hampi, an archaeological site in India, and their own knowledge of Hindu deities and their attributes. The process of animating an Indian Hindu deity for a potentially international audience means not only mastering 3D computer graphics and producing high-quality panorama of the sacred and historical place, but also working carefully on the interpretation and representation. The chapter uses concepts and theories from different disciplines (iconology, hermeutics, design research, museums studies, etc.) with the aim to describe, deconstruct, and understand the design choices. The study uses as main method the grounded theory: data are interviews and observations and the patterns emerging from qualitative data are compared with previous theories, during the process of theoretical comparison.