SCANOGRAPHY
What do scanners provide for artists and students that differ from capturing images through other mediums, such as digital photography? As I see it, scanners allow for the capturing of movement and fluidity, the opportunity for highly detailed images, and the potential for capturing 3-Dimensional and physical aspects of objects. Beyond this, they are more unpredictable, which in some ways I found to be their greatest asset. Photographing an object through digital devices with viewfinders and screens leaves little room for something to be surprising, but scanners have an element that cannot be calculated, predicted or totally controlled that makes their products exciting and gives the process of using one a different energy than I generally feel pulling out my phone or camera to document something. How will the scanner handle movement? How will it handle reflections and depth of field? None of these aspects can quite be harnessed and there becomes a nice play between creator and technology that leads to collaborative projects between the two.
In classrooms, thinking of scanners beyond their traditional uses is one of the many ways that teachers can help their students to constantly be thinking expansively about how they make art and the tools for their ever-growing tool kits. Even when used for more traditional archival purposes, scanners provide different images than cameras, and it is helpful for students to think about different ways they can document their own work and projects. I personally had fun experimenting with how a scanner could interact with and dictate my own projects, and I believe that the playful aspect of scanners would appeal to the curiosity and sense of fun in students as well.
What do scanners provide for artists and students that differ from capturing images through other mediums, such as digital photography? As I see it, scanners allow for the capturing of movement and fluidity, the opportunity for highly detailed images, and the potential for capturing 3-Dimensional and physical aspects of objects. Beyond this, they are more unpredictable, which in some ways I found to be their greatest asset. Photographing an object through digital devices with viewfinders and screens leaves little room for something to be surprising, but scanners have an element that cannot be calculated, predicted or totally controlled that makes their products exciting and gives the process of using one a different energy than I generally feel pulling out my phone or camera to document something. How will the scanner handle movement? How will it handle reflections and depth of field? None of these aspects can quite be harnessed and there becomes a nice play between creator and technology that leads to collaborative projects between the two.
In classrooms, thinking of scanners beyond their traditional uses is one of the many ways that teachers can help their students to constantly be thinking expansively about how they make art and the tools for their ever-growing tool kits. Even when used for more traditional archival purposes, scanners provide different images than cameras, and it is helpful for students to think about different ways they can document their own work and projects. I personally had fun experimenting with how a scanner could interact with and dictate my own projects, and I believe that the playful aspect of scanners would appeal to the curiosity and sense of fun in students as well.
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