Models, volume, and 3D visualisation.

Whether in the context of archaeological conservation, building information modelling, or visualising the breath and mechanics of forests, the practice of laser scanning and LiDAR based 3D modelling is evolving rapidly. Given the extent to which such methodologies are used for scientific purposes, there are distinct ways in which 3D models can be considered both technical objects and epistemic things.

The third digital | visual | cultural event took place on 17 and 18 June 2019 at St John's College, Oxford, with the support of the College and the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. It was curated by Sterling Mackinnon and Gillian Rose.

Framing questions

The event opened with questions about the materiality and production of 3D models, including:

• Aesthetics and accuracy. In counterposing applications of laser scanning and the rendering of 3D models across a spectrum of disciplines, the event explored the ways in which data, both visual and nonvisual, are alternately compromised or prioritised to achieve specific ends.
• The materiality of digital objects. As volumetric representations of physical objects, landscapes and artefacts, 3D models are made of complex coordinate based geometries. How do we conceive of their materiality, both unto themselves and in relation to the objects and subjects they represent?
• The spatial configurations of production. Different arrangements of personnel, instruments and software produce different sites of mediation and intervention between human and nonhuman creators of 3D models.
• The temporalities of 3D modelling. Data acquisition and visualisation are often framed as a means of documentation and recording. How do 3D models relate to phenomenological events and memory?
• Philosophical framings. How do knowledge producing practices rooted in Cartesian coordinate based visualisation gel with, or challenge, new materialism, phenomenology and nonrepresentational theory?

Keynote: Clancy Wilmott

The event opened with a keynote from Clancy Wilmott of RMIT University, Melbourne, titled Point clouds, pixels and perspective: encountering three dimensional visual technologies between mathematics and culture.

Three dimensional visual technologies are proliferating in a digital age. From virtual and augmented reality to 3D scanners and printers, they can be found across design, engineering, construction, medicine, architecture, art and beyond, as their volumetric capabilities can be used to map and reproduce complex space.

Drawing on a series of experimental digital 3D projects, the talk considered the interaction between the mathematical view of space, including point clouds, z axes and LiDAR, and broader cultural and political questions of being in and working through volumetric representations. It asked what the political and theoretical implications of visualising in three dimensions might be, and where the political possibilities of three dimensional visualisation could lie.

Speakers and projects

The programme included presentations and panels on the following projects and themes:

• Robert Shaw on the CHERISH project, coastal and marine environments at risk from climate change
• Sterling Mackinnon on data acquisition, processing and the material contours of the CHERISH project
• Helen Pritchard on queer analytics, damage and the Possible Bodies action research project
• Sam Hind on LiDAR, autonomous vehicle testing and the aftermath of the 2018 Arizona crash
• Dominic Nicholls on the 3D visualisation of Rome, its movement and the illumination of buildings and infrastructure
• Alexander Shenkin and Alice Ladenburg on Gestalt Forest, tree architecture and ecosystem ecology
• Linnea Saltin on virtual reality, discomfort and the gendered, embodied experience of immersion
• PixelBeans and the Glasgow School of Art SimVis project on point cloud datasets and historic sites

Thinking 3D

The event was programmed in concert with Thinking 3D, an interdisciplinary exploration of the historic and contemporary impact of three dimensionality on art and science, taking place around Oxford throughout 2019 across exhibitions, events, gallery shows and more.