Output details

The Trine Messenger

Expanding research into the creation of digital doubles, Brass Art (Chara Lewis, Kristin Mojsiewicz and Anneke Pettican) worked with scientists at UCLAN & Glasgow University to investigate 3D & 4D facial stereophotogrammetry as a highly detailed method of self-capture. Applications of this data were explored through processes of 3D printing 2D pattern making and digital video.

This enquiry informed the 3 metre research prototype: translating living 3-dimensional subjects into 3D body scan data then into a pattern for a large inflatable sculpture. Utilising source data, a ‘mean average’ of the artists’ heads was produced, output as a 2D pattern and stitched together to form a 7 metre wide 3D inflatable sculpture, entitled ‘Trine Messenger’. The fabric was weather-tested, vents were tried for efficiency and alterations were made to facial features and interior strapping to retain form and detail. Finally, solar-charging batteries were chosen to power the fan and the automatic inflation and deflation of the sculpture using Arduino.

The work combines surreal self-portraiture with expertise in bio-medical data gathering. The winged head references the god Hypnos and signifies its occupation of a dream-like register. Playful manipulation of the body’s anatomical boundaries, through metamorphosis, enables the artists’ portraits to shift between the real and the virtual, evidenced through a body of research including commissions for Meadow Arts and A Foundation. Our selection for 2012 Tatton Park Biennial by Danielle Arnaud and Jordan Kaplan places our practice alongside acclaimed international artists. The exhibition attracted 400,000 visitors.

The production of miniature 3D prints ‘The Messengers’ for Inside Out: Sculpture in the Digital Age’, along with conference paper ‘Wonder and the Digital Double’ at 2nd International Body Scanning Conference in Lugano, informed our conceptualization of the Trine Messenger at Tatton Park Biennial, and together have yielded new knowledge recently explored through a Creative Lab residency at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow.