Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures

Abstract

This paper acts as a piece of writing supplementary to a practical project, a project which focuses on the creation, manipulation and abstraction of a series of ‘object DNA’; this being a self-defined concept of the simplest form of raw data required to construct a digital object. The aim is to create a framework not only for a better understanding of the 3D model formats used within a practical project, but why these formats are important in wider terms. It also to sets a foundational enquiry into the inherent relationship between digital representations / manifestations of 3D entities and the relational differences to their physical counterparts. In doing so the reader should gain a clearer understanding of the way in which many 3D model formats exist separate to the physical world. The paper uses the practical example of four heritage objects made in 1786, (the four continents) now seen as contested objects in the depiction of imperial and colonial thinking, as demonstrations of how we can re-interpret, re-order and re-present objects that, not only, give new contexts to the original making, but interpret the objects for new audiences, re-materializing the data. It also looks speculatively at the concept of reality in the context of 3D models in order to offer insight into the philosophical foundations which underpin this project work. By thinking about realism/representation, in the milieu of 3D models, to highlight the relevance and importance of thinking about objects differently in the context of the 21st Century. By 3Dscanning these four historical objects, developing and evolving their own code, has allowed a pathway into ‘Representation’ the creation, the storage and depiction of digital mediums, and is a concept which lies at the heart of our interaction with digital technology.