Figure drawing, both in motion and static pose, has been an artform for years. However, while a static pose is easy to translate into three dimensional form like someone sitting, standing or sort of frozen in time, capturing the actual form that movement takes is not.

Raphael Perret, a scientific assistant at the IAD program at ZHdK focused on interface theory, hardware interaction and real-time video processing sought to overcome the disadvantage that the three dimensional form has in capturing the actual act of motion as well as to find a way in which the viewer can physically experience this space. The latter is intriguing to me – to get inside the space of movement. Movement AS space.

What emerged is what Perret calls Project Bodycloud and he explains what fueled the desire for this project:

About ten years ago, I visited Brazil with my Capoeira club. The way, how incredibly elegant Mestre Corisco moved through space impressed me deeply. Since that moment, I was dreaming of doing a sculpture from movement.

The goal is to produce the sculpture in lifesize as a positive and negative. The latter meaning a solid block with the movement carved into the material. So the visitor can crawl into the space and explore it with the body.

Below are some videos of the process. First, motion sequences were captured then translated in the computer. From there, a continuous volume was rendered and then 3-dimensionally printed as a mini sculpture, like shown at the top of this post.

Milton #10.2.1 from Raphael Perret on Vimeo.

Milton #10.2 (Actor) from Raphael Perret on Vimeo.

Below are several rendering studies of the movement from different sequences as well as more information about the purpose of this project:

Human movement space is defined as the space a person appropriates by means of his or her movement, a space that is constantly expanded as the person moves. I am interested in movement spaces because it reflects the personal usage of space. Despite its habitual and daily character, this process can be cultivated and developed according to a person’s talent and physical ability. Along these lines, the personal appropriation and design of space starts with one’s body. In order to visualize this constitution, I choose the process of materialization into a sculpture. Thereby, I will try to the render this essentially ephemeral movement space tangible.

images via Raphael Perret

I’ve had pictures of Arne Quinze‘s piece, “The Sequence” just sort of bumping around in various spots I throw photographs for inspiration. I keep coming back to this one and I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to make a post about it. It’s simplicity continually pulls me back – just straight pieces of wood moving through space in a nebulous cloud of orange anchored in only a few spots. It feels both light and heavy at the same time and naturally glowing yet the piece does not incorporate a single piece of lighting.

The piece, however, is more than just simple sticks moving through space in an elegant way and it acts also as a linkage between the Flemish Parliament and the House of Flemish Representatives. The piece performs both a physical and metaphorical connection.

From the artist, “THE SEQUENCE bridges the communication gap between people and generates movement in the city. I want to reconnect people and let them interact with each other like they did in the past on squares. At least people talked to each other then.”

This piece by the Belgian artist was installed on November 13, 2008 and will stay in place for at least 5 years. When the piece is taken down, all of the wood will be reused for another purpose.

images via Arne Quinze and

Folding laundry can be a rather boring task – or perhaps it can be inspirational? Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto found inspiration in fabric like lycra netting that could become dripping forms that contain a myriad of smells for those who came in contact them. The freshly ground spices of pepper, cumin, cloves, ginger and curcuma emit a mix of aromas when brushed against by a user passing through and interacting with the hanging forms. The artist hopes to conjure up images of the familiar or the forgotten. I not only find the forms to be quite lovely but the apparatus that they hang from in his site-specific piece, “While Nothing Happens” to be exquisite and so fragile yet strong at the same time. This piece, which seems to invite touch, hung from the the glass ceiling from May 2008 – February 2009 at the Museo D’arte Contemporanea Roma (MACRO).

About the piece, from Macro:

The artist’s aim is to break down the distances between the visitor and the work of art, creating a sort of mystical experience through the discovery of the almost living breathing of these huge creatures with their transparent and harmonious shapes.

Neto’s works form shapes that also break down the barriers between art and life. As he himself states, he creates “an art that unites, helping us interact with others, showing us the limits, not as barriers but as a place of sensations and of exchange and continuity.”

images via MACRO