VIDEOFORMES 2022 Poster

The image is from one depth layer of the Ground Penetrating Radar scan performed across Place de la Victoire in Clermont-Ferrand.  GPR transmits electromagnetic pulses—radio waves—into the soil which bounce off materials with varying dielectric properties. Different formations below all ‘echo’ the signal back differently to the antenna. These contrasts are recorded and transposed into imagery, revealing hidden structures.

The scan resulted in 140 million ‘points’ in a 3D cloud created from a 23x23m area of the plaza, 4m deep.  The artist is exploring several visual approaches to this unique dataset, the first time the tool has been used for creative purposes; it is both literally and figuratively ‘uncharted territory.’  When stacked all together, the scan revealed several underground forms, but these ‘depth slices’ had a stunningly beautiful topography individually.  The slice presented here is the actual scan data from below the plaza surface, stylized by the artist and the first of a series of artworks visualizing the rich dataset in a variety of techniques, styles, and media forms.