Spatially Immersive Networked Composites: A Media Archaeology of the Photogrammetric Image through Glitch Practice

Milnes, Thomas (2022) Spatially Immersive Networked Composites: A Media Archaeology of the Photogrammetric Image through Glitch Practice. Doctoral thesis, Falmouth University / University of the Arts London.

Preview

Text MILNES, T Thesis_Final.pdf - Submitted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (78MB) | Preview

Abstract / Summary

This practice-based research engages new artistic production in an examination of the
aesthetics of 3D imaging technologies. In particular, the research concerns the photogrammetric
image and its aesthetics as encountered in art practice. Critical discourse on photogrammetry in
art practice is underexplored. Where such discourse does exist, for instance in and around the
work of the research and activist group Forensic Architecture, it has tended to focus on
questions of functionality. This PhD proposes a new starting point for an understanding of
photogrammetric representation in its own terms. The study finds the partiality of recent
critical research writing on photogrammetry to be too heavily conditioned by discourses of
photography. Such discussion fails to appreciate the computational mediation at the heart of
photogrammetry. The photogrammetric image is one of a range of images recently emerging
which are subject to heavily automated computational processes. This study sets out a
8
conceptual framework for understanding these images; photogrammetric images being one of
an emergent range of ‘Spatially-immersive Networked Composites’ or ‘SiNCs’. The research
outlines a way of foregrounding qualities of layering and assemblage through computation as
pivotal to understanding the image. These images are created through algorithmic analysis
resulting in the formation of a computational, navigable environment. The project engages
sculptural practice, video, Augmented Reality, and media installations. It provokes a plurality of
encounters to be enlisted into the research, thus demonstrating the necessity of art making in
this research. New forms of Media Archaeological methods are employed, focusing on glitch
practices that explore this evolving technology. Under certain conditions, peculiar errors and
aberrations occur. These attributes reveal a glimpse of the image’s materiality by showing
estimations and extrapolations of algorithms. Methods devised include generating the
conditions for such errors to better understand the aesthetics of Spatially-immersive Networked
Composites (SiNCs), both on screen and removed from navigable, screen-based space. The
urgency of the research is evident in a digital media environment in which, through automation
and algorithmic agency, image production and dissemination are changing rapidly. This
research sets the conditions for discussion for emergent forms of imagery, encouraging wider
and more critical engagement with the photogrammetric image and its associated, evolving
technologies

View Record (staff only)