Further paint trials and conclusions regarding paint type and brushing/rolling patterns.

Review 2 involved “mastering” the photogenic paint mixture and application, though it turned out to be an ongoing struggle.

Greater linkages between photogrammetry and digital projection was pursued in the installation.

Through multiple generations of removal of physical visual information (photograph, cyanotype) and reconnection back to physical (projector), layers of information about the specific experience and duration of a singular moment is absorbed into the physical space.

The result is a visceral experience of the merging of temporal information via digital representation with physical space, producing a reading of transient nuances of space that often go unrecorded.  Architecture becomes a recorder of singular moments which then become output as “historical” information and experience.

The first go at the full room test was almost a success, but through the process many new issues have arisen, such as the proper chemistry of the “paint”, the psychological experience of the space, and its occupancy.  Because the aim of the “photogenic architecture” is to enable the architecture itself to absorb and remember its occupants and lighting conditions, these things need to be more carefully considered.  As a first trial, the main exposing agent was a UV “reptile” light, which is very controlled and predictable.  Exposure time for this test was about 1.5 hours.  With that length in mind, some equivalent occupancy or use must be considered because simply sitting in the room is a very paranoid experience as one watches the walls carefully for an image to appear.  Perhaps the next exposure will include a movie party, or a board game, or a coffee break.

Practice of Jennifer Harmon, lecturer at University of Michigan Taubman College

Reblogged from Russell Moreton:

Drawing,Footprint and Pavilion. #11 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!.

The first thing that was noticed and located as a potential design opportunity was the excess of surface texture.  This is exciting because it allows for potentials in matching projection details with real life materials.  This enables similar animation/real object couplings to the ones explored earlier on.

The three key aspects that will animate and embed temporal photographic information into physical space are:

Projection and Physical Texture

Control of Light (Sunlight and Artificial)

Activity and Use.

The easiest aspect to explore is the control of light.  Below are beginning examples of how light can be specifically channeled and displaced as a way of animating and articulating the cyanopaint surfaces.

Paint Tests

The mixing of the chemical in paint changed its usual behavior, such as slowing its exposure sensitivity and allowing for other forms of interaction other than light and shadow.

Paint on the wall took a few days to really change to the deep blue that signifies a proper exposure.

Other haptic relationships:

The other area of the project addressed was the increase of control on the source of light and exploring specific contexts in order to prescribe a specific relationship between space, objects, and the scan.  Light source placement is strategic in order to align with a desired capture surface or to utilize an existing threshold i.e. door and window to link the fluctuating use of a real object with the control of an aperture of light.  This link gives a relationship and value to the shadow recording.  Also, webcam placement is another recorder to be potentially linked to the fluctuation of a real object, such as the swing of a door.  The hope is to find real, three-dimensional relationships between light, objects, and the recording surface which are specific and revealing of something unseen or unrepresented about an object or space.

DOOR

DESK

Finally, as an elaboration of the desk idea a full scale test was staged to simulate its type of reading.

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The goal of review one was to build a full scale prototype of photogenic architecture which would integrate many of the strategies explored in earlier studies (the cyanotype, UV light source, webcam).  The strategy of generating walls and floors that record was to first produce a series of fabric panels infused with the cyanotype chemicals and then hang them like curtains on a pvc pipe frame.

Initial tests were promising when exposed to direct sunlight.  Once fabric panels were exposed to sunlight and activity, they are processed by washing the chemical out and then hanging them out to dry.  My basement served as a sufficiently dark and controlled environment for the production, processing, and drying of the cyanotype walls.

A “room” lined with the treated fabric was the site for the first review of the work.  The three main light sources considered to have an influence on the sensitive walls were natural light via the window, UV light given off from a series of black lights, and light from the projector.  The critics and objects within the space were considered the objects to be scanned.

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As the first attempt at this scale of installation there were several malfunctions and warranted criticisms.  Due to the lack of sunlight on the day of the review, the surfaces lacked the proper saturation of UV light and exposure time.  The review duration was about one hour, but exposure needed to be longer.

The main criticism other than craft were the need for greater control over the lighting conditions and type of relationships between objects, surfaces, user activity, etc.  Also, it was recommended to start considered the webcam as a more potent and unique recorder of a particular moment in space.  The walls were considered the main recorder of objects and movements in space, but perhaps the cyanotype is only suitable for recording objects in static contact or in close proximity to the surface, while a webcam is best for capturing motion.

Moving forward, this hybrid and specific placement of recording instruments in space will be very important as well as improving the craft of generating large scale cyanotype surfaces.

The exhibition “depicts and describes the 37 Initial Points of the Public Land Survey System, the rectilinear grid that covers more than two thirds of the landscape of the USA. These surveying points, located in places such as swamps, under manhole covers, in roads, and on top of mountains, are the physical locations that tie this grid to the ground. Looking at them in a contemporary context explores the process and importance of the endeavor of surveying, and reveals a latent cadastral history of the nation as it expanded westward.”

The anchoring to physical space the markers and artifacts of anticipated scanning and surveying is a notion similar to several of the photogenic strategies developed for photogrammetry.  “Detail points” are purposefully placed into physical space to produce a particular reading when input into the 123d software.

The constant development of “detail points” as a spatial strategy, rather than just an applique or ornamentation, is reliant on surfaces that produce visual information, such as cast shadows or outlines, in order to create the necessary “physical anchors” of the non-static aspects of space (light, shadow, and movement).  An applique strategy, such as wallpaper patterning etc., does not encourage a reading of three-dimensional space.  A cyanotype wall strategy becomes a three-dimensional and temporal reading because it absorbs objects in space and aspects in flux.

This particular space retains physical markings and information for survey on the character of light and the objects and occupants within a particular interval of time exposure.

On a side note, work that I have been doing in Joyce Hwang’s Visualizing Ecologies class has dealt with the daily marking of objects and their constant re-shuffling within space.  As a visualization strategy such markings are always coupled with physical space, as permanent anchors of the usage and occupancy of space.  This strategy is perhaps more on the end of articulation and ornamentation, but it begins to produce spatial resonance through a visualized history.

The awaiting of the clouds to clear is often anxious.  As a full scale installation is considered, placement of windows, orientation to sun, and time of day is very important.