The Photographers’ Gallery

Horizontal Humans

02 Oct 2015 - 10 Jan 2016

Horizontal Humans. ScanLAB Projects, 2015
HORIZONTAL HUMANS
ScanLAB Projects
2 October 2015 – 10 January 2016

‘ANATOMISTS CALL THE PIG “HORIZONTAL HUMAN” BECAUSE OF WHAT WE SHARE INSIDE’
- G. Price, The Red Hourglass: Lives of Predators, New York, Delta, 1998

Horizontal Humans is a new work from ScanLAB Projects commissioned for the Gallery’s Media Wall as part of our forthcoming season on Forensic Imaging. The project invites us to witness a series of forensic experiments monitoring bodily decomposition through the robotic eyes of a 3D laser scanner. In the experiments pigs act as anatomical substitutes for human bodies found in criminal investigations. Under the scanner’s forensic gaze, the undulations of the decaying animals are translated into a dramatic and visually arresting 3D pointcloud. Through this process the artists explore the scanner as both a tool for ‘objective’ scientific measurement and a highly subjective imaging device.

ScanLAB Projects is a London based design studio founded by Matthew Shaw and William Trossell experimenting with the potential of large-scale 3D. For the last 5 years they have been turning the relentless, machinic eye of the 3D scanner on anything and everything - from giant mirrored sculptures, Arctic ice flows, Roman Sewers and dancers. Their practice explores the world through the eyes of this post lenticular technology, creating animations, images, objects and installations in response to the data they capture. Their work has been broadcast internationally and exhibited at leading cultural institutions across the world.

This exhibition contains images that some viewers might find disturbing.

ScanLAB Projects thank the UCLAN teams for their generosity and support: Peter Cross, Dr. Michael Wysocki, TRACES students of summer 2015