Hyperobjects

Exploring the limits of digital photo-based complexity using organic forms and refraction

Bouquet 1 (refraction study), 2018

This body of work endeavors to explore the abstracted and erroneous 3D forms that are produced using from low-fi 3D photogrammetry software when directed at natural forms.

I’m fascinated by the intricacy and interrelation of natural forms and the current inability to accurately re-create these forms in a 3D digital environment. With this work I’m seeking to illustrate the gap between natural materials and digital technologies using light and form.

In his book The Ecological Thought, Timothy Morton describes hyperobjects as a way to ‘refer to things that are massively distributed in time and space relative to humans.’

In an effort to fully understand the rhizomatic natural world that surrounds us, we must strive to investigate the micro and macroscopic levels: the granular closeup and the bird’s eye view.
This disparity in scale challenges us in much the same way that photogrammetry technology is challenged by the intracacies of organic forms.

Likewise, this disparity in scale reflects the challenge we confront when considering many contemporary issues, like climate change or the way that computers are manipulating and changing our very consciousness.

What does it mean to “envision” climate change? Civilization? The Anthropocene?

Lemon Verbena Root System (refraction study), 2018

Forsythia Leaves 1 (refraction study), 2018

This body of work seeks to investigate and “envision” the overlay of the minute and the vast as they inform our ability to see ourselves in relationship to our world and ideas.

How can we reconcile the singular and the whole, the problem and the solution?

Bryan Meador is a creative working at the intersection of art, design and new media.