Reflection Projection

The aims of the project were to examine our understanding of realism in relation to 3D digital animation with specific reference to human character representation and portraiture. By focusing on one of the central issues raised in the creation of digital images - the much-debated relationship between, simulation, representation and presentation - this research questions the relationship between photo-realistic (and non-photorealisitc) CGI human representation and our ability to engage with, or to understand, what we perceive as being real. The work asks whether 3-D CGI technology can be employed as an art form and as a means to mediate and visually convey social perspectives or abstract ideas relating to realism? How can abstract form be used to explore relationships between identity, culture and technology? The relationships between viewer and the work, and access to the work by the viewer (through display) were fundamental to this project and draws on phenomenological debates relating to delivery and perception. The work ‘Self Portrait’, produced for the ‘Projection Reflection’ exhibition explores these concerns. Employing multiple screen projection and contrasting animated imagery, the work sought to place the viewer within a space designed to encourage questions relating to portraiture and the self, and to re-examine preconceived notions about representation, process and digital 3D computer animated image. Via practical application this research aims to interrogate concepts of the real through an investigation into alternative 3D digital animation methods, practice and presentation and the use of ‘embodied’ expression, abstraction and interaction, as opposed to visually photo-realistic and purely representational forms. In positioning and designing content of the animations in this way, viewers reflect on the nature, content, construction and materiality of the works of representation and portraiture.