Witch Marks at Cresswell Crags
Reframing the use of LiDar and Photogrammetry from a traditionally scientific tool to an artistic eye
Creswell Crags approached Sheffield Hallam University asking for help in ways of enabling the museum to display the recently found witch mark cave to the public. The small cave is inaccessible to the general public so this came as an exciting opportunity for collaboration and research into new digital techniques and display.
Jeremy Lee’s research enquiry is focused on how emerging scanning technologies can be used as new ways of seeing and interacting with an audience. 3Dimensionally accurate topographies and interiors can now be constructed using digital processes used in the engineering architecture and games industries. Jeremy’s interest lies in the machine eye and the omnipresence these technologies enable. Whilst creating 3D point clouds he started to view machine made landscapes and was able to compose these images similar to a photographer, the images are chosen from a point of view that no camera or machine has actually been positioned at, capturing that moment, memory, presence and digital artefact. The information and composition are accurate and has been extrapolated from the three-dimensional data gathered at a central point within the scene.
Repurposing the use of LiDar and Photogrammetry technology from one that is traditionally scientific to one that is artistic reframes through material and processes a dialogue between the technology of documentation and its subject matter.
Using these technologies, Jeremy is able to visualise areas not normally seen by the public to investigate questions of interactivity, immersiveness, viewing and access alongside the questioning of how these new processes might change the viewer’s perception and appreciation of landscapes, spaces and artefacts.
The methodology used is via different platforms for viewing the 3dimensional digital space such as a VR immersive space, the use of game engine technology and 360” still images.
Current discussions around collaboration include areas of journalism, archaeology, semiotics, symbology and palaeontology within HEI’s, Research centres and national television.
Impact:
Through this initial collaboration and research that Jeremy has instigated with Creswell there has been a renewed interest and wide dissemination through press and TV coverage. Local Derbyshire Times. Nottingham and Sheffield Radio BBC look north.
National. The Mirror, Daily express, Sun, Daily star. International Fox news, New York Post,
Science now. The Smithsonian.com. The video produced has over 20K of views.
Inquiries and interest in tours at Creswell have also spiked. Not only in the markings but in the 3d process of revealing these marks, specifically
Project dates
2019
2019
Research by
Jeremy Lee
Partners & Stakeholders
Cresswell Crags
Cresswell Crags
