scanning the water lilies at Emmarentia in Johannesburg; ah, Monet!’ (photo by Colleen Alborough)
I did some outdoor scanning tests for my Compressionism project today, which failed pretty miserably. I considered the last tests and scans to be hugely successful, but this one was going to be a huge step – I was using a new scanner, powered through the USB port, so that I could be freed from power cords, and run through Joburg with the laptop/scanner combo as my fanfab appendage. I was thinking some barbed wire and fences for a bit of the ole’ Joburg Boogie Woogie, and maybe Lilies @ Daytime (one attempt pictured) for a bit more of an obvious reference (etc). But alas, I had no idea how lucky I was with Jackson (the original scanner I used for the first Compressionist works). The new CanoScan I was so excited about was waaaay too sensitive – even after recalibrating several times, and testing in various settings, I could never get it to "see" any images more than 1/2 a centimeter from its surface; everything came out almost completely white. This will not do for Compressionism!
Next steps? Well, Colleen Alborough (who took the above photo) recommended looking into a generator, so that I could use Jackson (the old scanner) anywhere I please. Great idea, but it also feels like a bit of a hassle to lug around (not to mention monetary constraints); it turns out, however, that Jackson only needs 1.25 Amps and 12 Volts of power – so 10 hi-amp AA’s in series should do the trick; or even some other combination of batteries in serial and parallel (whatever works out cheapest, and is, hopefully, rechargeable). *Non geeks: if we put batteries in serial, we add their voltage together for the new power we get out of them; if we put them in parallel, we can add the current (amplitude) together.* Or maybe I can find one rechargeable that’ll do the trick, even… Then, I’d just need the right adapter head to plug into Jackson, and Voila! I’m guessing that the cats over at Communica will help me out with this, even if their web site sucks and I can’t find a current phone number for them anywhere. You think they are open this time of year? Ooooh, and after I get this working, it may be time to develop a Compressionist suit, for housing the laptop and scanner more easily… Yeh, that’s hot (this was Catherine D’Ignazio’s idea – from the very cool Art Interactive gallery, in Cambridge).
PS – was having some issues with the "email to friend" function for the last few days, as I updated my blog’s linking structure. It should be working fine now.
{ 2 } Comments
you havent failed, youve learned something you dodo. Could you do this?-take a digital photo of the object you want to scan and then scan the photo which you can do in a compressionist manner.. Or you could take the item indoors. Or you could use an extension lead.
Thanks, Sean. I think the digital photo idea takes away the performative aspects of the Compressionist ideology – the scaling down is meant to happen through my body and appendage’s action around it; the scaling up, editing and coloring, is a frame for said performance – work done in the computer. Unless I were to blow up the digital photo again (which also takes away any 3-dimensional aspects of my performance), this idea isn’t best suited, conceptually.
Taking the object inside and/or working with an extension are certainly possibilities (and I’ve done the latter recently, when scanning a tree near our flat); I also want the possibility of Compressing objects too big to move, or not near a lead – such as the above pictured pond, at Emmarentia. In this case, my initial thoughts were a USB-powered scanner, but now that I know my scanner options are limited, I’m looking into cheap powering options that I can go anywhere with. A generator, or varying battery types, seem to be my best options right now.
You have not blogged in a while, buddy. We miss you!
PS – thanks to Colleen again, who emailed me the Communica phone number after seeing this blog: 011 339 8844 at shop Number 1 of Rennie house in Braamfontein.
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