Making Memories in 3D Workshop with ScanLAB Projects

Join ScanLAB Projects for an experimental session with their tools and an exploration of the studio’s work at the intersection of technology, art, and environmental observation. From their installations FRAMERATE: Desert Pulse and Pulse of the Earth which reveal imperceptible changes in our landscapes using 3D time-lapse scanning - to projects that leverage machine vision to investigate themes of memory, error, and privacy this talk and workshop delve into how digital tools are reshaping our understanding of photography and memory making.

ScanLAB will discuss how their use of 3D scanning transcends the boundaries of traditional photography, offering new ways of observing, preserving, and critically reflecting on the world around us. By interpreting digital glitches ("errors") as moments of creative potential and rethinking memory as both a personal and public archive, they challenge our notions of permanence in a world increasingly mediated by technology.

This hands-on, interdisciplinary talk and workshop will ask you to rethink the nature of collecting snap shots in the digital age. Through a blend of practical demonstrations, interactive exercises, and discussions we'll delve into the potential and pitfalls of creating ‘perfect’ 3D replicas of our lives and the places around us.

• Introduction to 3D scanning technologies: From large scale LiDAR to Photogrammetry and iPhone
• Introduction to pointcloud datasets and pointcloud aesthetics
• Ethical considerations: Privacy, consent, and the right to be forgotten in a 3D-scanned world
• Memory makers: How might immersive 3D archives affect our emotional connections to the past?

• Create your own 3D scans using LiDAR instruments, iPhones and compare them with traditional forms of memory capture.

   

ScanLAB Projects is an artist-led studio exploring the world through machine vision technologies, founded in 2010 by Matt Shaw (b 1983) and William Trossell (b 1985).

Known for their evocative and ambitious body of precision-crafted physical and digital artworks which reveal and reflect on beauty, fragility, and resilience, ScanLAB invites us to explore our collective future. Their groundbreaking use of 3D scanning and definitive pointcloud aesthetic has taken them around the world making a seminal body of work that observes society and the natural world. The work provides new ways to see, understand, and feel beyond the capabilities of our eyes or traditional cameras.

The London-based team brings together architects, craftspeople, photographers, engineers and documentary filmmakers. They collaborate with choreographers, musicians, writers, technologists, climate scientists, and researchers to extend the studio's impact beyond the gallery - in scientific papers, performance, climate activism, and journalism.

ScanLAB’s diverse portfolio includes large scale installation, film, sculpture, XR, immersive storytelling and live performance which has been exhibited at prestigious cultural institutions including the Royal Academy (UK), LACMA (USA), Venice Biennale (IT), Louisiana (DK), Barbican (UK), the Photographers’ Gallery (UK), The New Museum (USA), SXSW (USA), the Berliner Ensemble (DE) and Tribeca (USA). It has also been widely published by the BBC, PBS, National Geographic, Arte, Nature, The New York Times, and The Guardian. Past collaborators include Danny Boyle, Greenpeace, Apple, MIT, Forensic Architecture and Cambridge University.

In an era of generative AI, computer graphics, and synthetic realities, ScanLAB embraces their commitment to investigation, precision, equity, sustainability and truth.