ROOT 0082 \ Simone Niquille (2017)

ROOT 0082 is a large 3D printed mesh from the CAESAR database, anthropometric research to record human body measurements initiated by the U.S. Air Force Laboratory. The database consists of over 2,000 scanned bodies and is one of the largest of it’s kind. This has led the database to be a popular resource for academic research in need of human 3D models. Recently, Adobe purchased the character creator software ‘Fuse’, formerly a startup from Stanford University based on 3D assembly modelling research, of which a selection of the CAESAR database served as training set.

The new 3D printed artefact ROOT 0082, experienced in Treak Cliff Cavern as a large, sculptural presence, is an invisible puppet master in defining a new canon of beauty posing questions on the standardisation of bodies, personal data, and the representation of the human body in virtual space. The sculpture was shown alongside the short film The Fragility of Life that follows Teresa Barnwell, a Hillary Clinton impersonator, in the final days leading up to the 2016 U.S Presidential Elections.

ROOT 0082 and The Fragility of Life are both part of ongoing research The Contents on anthropometric standards embedded in 3D capture and modelling technologies. Used for a wide spectrum of applications, from movie special effects, to forensic investigation, and biometric identification, these technologies define much of how the human body and identity is represented and perceived in digital space. Through film, artefacts and interviews, The Contents challenges parametric constructs of corporeality.