The Da Vinci Effect is a fundraising campaign by Carnegie Mellon that is touring the US and which bills itself as a “multisensory theatrical event”. From the digital video is seems to involve an actor dressed up like Leonardo who coordinates a multimedia show.
What is interesting is how Carnegie Mellon is focusing on the intersection of arts and technology and using Leonardo as an iconic figure for that interesection. They aren’t promoting Italian studies or Renaissance studies, but the combination of entertainment and technology. I wonder what Leonardo would have pushed as a curriculum for effect?
For a look at all the ways Leonardo da Vinci has been appropriated look at the leonardo.virtual.museum. Just the section on the Mona Lisa is worth it. Here is a paper where Matthew Landrus writes about constructing the site, Virtual Museums: Appropriations of Leonardo da Vinci. Alas the paper isn’t really that interesting – it is more a report on the site and copyright issues.
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