External and Internal Topographies: Art on the Uncanny Limits of Scan Technology

Abstract

This paper flows from a particular development in my artistic practice in the realm of ceramic sculpture: the search for spaces of interdisciplinarity by employing technologies that are meant and developed for scientific rather than artistic use, creating an exciting, innovative interface that reconnects rational distance and emotional involvement and allows for alternative paths of artistic experience and analysis. In my search for new terrains beyond established ceramic and sculptural methods, I am incorporating medical scanning and imaging technologies into my studio-based research practice, inserting my art practice and outcomes in New Media and Performance Studies. Conversely, the new technologies applied to my artistic research and practice are producing new functions and new knowledges beyond their initial purposes, leading to a rich interface of ex/change. This paper briefly reviews the history of scan technologies and its employment in the arts over the years, and then considers the new knowledges that may be derived from the artistic use of scanning, in particular my own practice.