Post-lenticular Landscapes
ScanLAB Projects

How does one reimagine a landscape that is one of the most-photographed locations in the world? In the spring of 2016, ScanLAB Projects set out to the Yosemite Valley with terrestrial laser scanners to find out. The artists captured over 150 scans of the iconic landscape, many taken from the same vantage points used by their photographer-predecessors Ansel Adams and Eadweard Muybridge. The expedition was not without its challenges, including the park’s vast scale and numerous waterfalls, which both pushed the scanning technology to its limit.

Hyundai, the Art + Technology Lab’s presenting sponsor, provided the expedition with a Santa Fe SE SUV. In a nod to the traveling studios of Adams and Muybridge—who frequently worked on-site and out of their vehicles—ScanLAB adapted theirs into a base of operations, where they could review and process their data. Displayed on LACMA’s Zev Yaroslavsky Plaza, the vehicle was again converted, this time into a digital diorama presenting a ghostly 3D landscape of one our most popular national parks.

The ScanLAB team and their expedition vehicle at Tunnel View, Yosemite, © ScanLAB Projects
The ScanLAB team and their expedition vehicle at Tunnel View, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
full expedition kit laid out ahead of the hike to Vernal Falls © ScanLAB Projects
full expedition kit laid out ahead of the hike to Vernal Falls. © ScanLAB Projects
Scanning at the foot of Nevada Falls, Yosemite © ScanLAB Projects
Scanning at the foot of Nevada Falls, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
Water, the nemesis subject matter, at Emerald Pool, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
Water, the nemesis subject matter, at Emerald Pool, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
3D scan from the top of Vernal Falls, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
3D scan from the top of Vernal Falls, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
Will Trossell and Matt Shaw of ScanLAB Projects perform a scan from Glacier Point, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
Will Trossell and Matt Shaw of ScanLAB Projects perform a scan from Glacier Point, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
Long range 3D scanning above the Merced River looming across to Nevada Falls, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
Long range 3D scanning above the Merced River looming across to Nevada Falls, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
A long range 3D scan from Glacier Point, looking across to the Merced River, Vernal Falls, Half Dome and Mt Brodrick, Yosemite © ScanLAB Projects
A long range 3D scan from Glacier Point, looking across to the Merced River, Vernal Falls, Half Dome and Mt Brodrick, Yosemite. © ScanLAB Projects
The Nemesis Captured - a 3D Scan of Vernal Falls, Yosemite, taken from Eadweard Muybridge's original viewpoint. © ScanLAB Projects
The Nemesis Captured - a 3D Scan of Vernal Falls, Yosemite, taken from Eadweard Muybridge's original viewpoint. © ScanLAB Projects
ScanLAB Projects, Post-lenticular Landscapes, 2017. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
ScanLAB Projects, Post-lenticular Landscapes, 2017. © Museum Associates/LACMA
ScanLAB Projects, Post-lenticular Landscapes, 2017. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
ScanLAB Projects, Post-lenticular Landscapes, 2017. © Museum Associates/LACMA
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About the Artists

ScanLAB Projects transforms temporary moments and spaces into compelling permanent experiences, images and film, designing online environments, immersive installations and objects. 

ScanLAB’s primary medium is 3D scanning, a form of machine vision that the artists argue is the future of photography and much more beyond, as the electronic eyes for billions of mobile phones and driverless vehicles 3D scanners are the cartographers of the future. By critically observing places and events through the eyes of these machines their work hopes to glance at the future we will all inhabit.

ScanLAB Projects Website

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