Studio of Objects: Scanning a studio…..

Sunday, 18 January, 2015

Following on from my (very much earlier!!) blog on “Studio of ObjectsI’m involved in, I wanted to flesh out the project itself a little further and also talk about some of our initial experiences. No better than to quote from the project homepage:

“The project uses a 360-degree archaeological laser scan to capture the preserved studio of artist Eduardo Paolozzi. The 3D scans will be coded for tablets and used in workshops at Pallant House Gallery to explore how users interact and navigate the studio with this innovative technology…. [and] create new ways for organisations to capture and store their archives digitally, resulting in wider public access.”

For those of you who haven’t heard of Eduardo Paolozzi, take a look at the Wikipedia page. He has extraordinary large-scale sculptures (Vulcan, Newton, Head of Invention, A Maximis Ad Minima) that comprise a mixture of tactile objects (“junk”!) and traditional sculpting (I’m no artist or art historian though!!). He is also seen as a pre-cursor (i.e. did it before anyone else!) of the pop-art movement. His studio was almost entirely left to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the gallery is worth visiting just to see his gallery laid out in fine detail - having spent two days stood in this amazing location you get a real sense of his working life and the creations that gave him motivation. It is this (largely unique) ability to see art in varying stages of creation and pre-cursors and scale models to the final artworks that make this a remarkable insight in to the workings of Paolozzi.

Which neatly brings us back to the rationale for the research project - this is not about traditional art history, but rather four closely allied prongs to recording Paolozzi’s working environment:

1. Record the 3D interior of the studio using a state-of-the-art laser scanner
2. Develop iOS software to allow full immersion and interaction with the 3D scene
3. Trial and review the interaction of (young) users with the virtual environment as part of understanding and interpreting the work of Paolozzi
4. Document a workflow for other organisations to store their archives

More shortly on the technical setup and initial trial with the Krazy Kat archive


in close association with hijack and Dacapo