I finally submitted all the information required for Ars Electronica - PRIX ARS under the hybrid art category.
The submission consisted of a video documenting the processes used to create and display my interpretation of sculptural momento mori into the digital. Involving my processes of transposing physical pieces from the actual through into the virtual, re-interpreted the pieces in the virtual medium resulting in the BirdSkull_Gallery.exe for final display of the sculpts. BirdSkull_Gallery.exe is one of a series of digital sculptural pieces that explores the interchange between the analogue (actual) and the digital.The work appropriates scientific and engineering technologies of stereo photogrammetry to reinterpret the physical object, adapting it into the new context of digital sculpture. I use a photogrammetric capturing method to capture the pieces rather than create observation driven hand sculpted models relying on my artist’s eye to representation of the subject matter.
The photogrammetry process captures the inherent natural errors of the original sometimes missed by observation. It is notable that in the photogrammetry translation process that I use, there can be errors in translation from the 2D into the 3D. I use that “erroneous data “as an abstraction process in the conversion of the piece into the virtual medium. As most of the sculptural work takes place in this virtual medium it seems natural that the pieces should be displayed and distributed in a digital medium very similar to their medium of adaptation, the virtual space. With the BirdSkull_Gallery.exe I have reinterpreted two aspects a crow skull (based on the same data set), namely Crowskull _Scrimshaw and Birdskull Redux v1.1.
These pieces have been integrated into a virtual 'cave' which is created from erroneous photogrammetry data of a stuffed crow captured from the Brisbane Natural History Museum collection.
The exploration of bones and nature stems from my early childhood in post colonial Africa - I have always seen bones as beautiful sculptures as well as reminders of life’s fragility. I remember visiting friends ranch as 5 or 6 year old and seeing an elephant skull on the front lawn and thinking how amazing it was and wanting one for my own room. My work reminisces on memories of bones being commonly used as ornamentation and have always been a part of my physical environment. Today as a practicing digital sculptor I can capture elements of this childhood obsession - creating virtual homage's to creatures that I once collected and performed taxidermy on.
My practice reflects my desire to pay homage to nature. The ability to create a virtual sculpture garden is part of this process of reflection where technology enables one to collect and create these types of spaces, resulting in virtual galleries such as BirdSkull_Gallery. exe.
