The Appeal of The Unreal

This is the research blog for the PhD trajectory of visual artist Alexandra Crouwers. The Appeal of the Unreal is part of the research proposal title, and concerns, amongst other things, the emotive quality of dead things, simulations, screen culture, and virtual nature.

Alexandra Crouwers is member of the Deep Histories Fragile Memories research group, part of the Lieven Gevaert Research Centre (KU Leuven) and the Intermedia research unit of Luca School of Arts, Brussels.

This blog is here for several reasons: it functions as a reminder, and as a way to collect research. Please keep in mind this blog is a work in progress.

Latest posts


To diorama or not to diorama? The representation of nature at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels.
Dioramas | Research areas

To diorama or not to diorama? The representation of nature at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels.

A review of the ‘Living Planet‘ hall, at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels, visited in January 2021. In September 2020, The Museum of Natural Sciences announced a new permanent exhibition called ‘Living Planet’. This addition even made the news. The museum is very proud of it. Unfortunately, all I saw was a terribly …

Titanic sinks in real time
Research areas | Simulations

Titanic sinks in real time

Originally meant to promote a game, this 2 hours and 40 minute real time simulation, based on the actual events and timeframe of the sinking of the Titanic, displays an eerie artistic quality of its own. Devoid of human figures, the story of the disaster is told through the character of the vessel itself, a …

Hark! The clock of Notre Dame strikes!
Dioramas | Research areas

Hark! The clock of Notre Dame strikes!

London, Vol 6, edited by Charles Knight, 1844. CXLIII: Exhibitions of Art by J. Saunders. p283 – 285. Excerpt. The eye witness account of J. Saunders. (…) let us pay our two shillings in the vestibule of the exhibition, ascend the stairs, and submit ourselves to the guidance of the attendant waiting to receive and …

The Artist in His Museum
Dioramaesques | Research areas

The Artist in His Museum

Charles Wilson Peale (1741 – 1827) was an American painter, scientist, naturalist and inventor. He’s most known for his portraits, and for setting up one the first museums in the United States. Peale’s famous self portrait, ‘The Artist in His Museum’, was painted in 1822 – Peale was 83 – and has a distinct diorama’esque quality. …

Visual tricks by animals: Bowerbirds and Forced Perspectives.
Otheramas | Research areas

Visual tricks by animals: Bowerbirds and Forced Perspectives.

Apart from humans, there’s at least one other species associated with the production of ‘art’: the Australian/New Guinea bowerbird builds elaborate architectural constructions to lure its mate to its lair. These ‘nests’ are decorated with shells, leafs, flowers, pieces of plastic; anything the bird can find. The constructions are so sophisticated, they make use of …

Himalaya at Dawn
Dioramas | Navigating the world | Research areas

Himalaya at Dawn

Powell Cotton Museum | Quex House & Gardens | Birchington, UK | quexmuseum.org | Visited June 2019 | Himalaya at dawn (constructed in 1905) is considered to be ‘the oldest untouched diorama of its type in any museum around the world’ (1: PC Museum Souvenir Guide, page 6) All animals on display were collected by …

On screens as dioramas as screens
Dioramas | Research areas | The Virtual Sites

On screens as dioramas as screens

Note: this is a repost of an April 2019 entry on my portfolio website. Illusions behind glass The screen has become omnipresent in our lives: starting with TVs entering our homes, then computer monitors, smartphones, tablets, VR sets. We’re all looking through glass walls at illusions. The illusion is not confined to films, tv programs, …