Animating Affect: The Use of 3D Laser Scanning in Architectural and Heritage Research Located in Huddersfield, UK

Animating Affect explores recent practice-based research from Clear+Park who use 3D laser scanning to create multidisciplinary works that operate across architecture, installation, and media arts. Clear+Park use 3D laser scanning to capture spaces and create spatial representations and narratives that engage with and respond to specific site histories and spatial practices. Through their research, Clear+Park explore ways in which architects and artists can reproduce, develop, manipulate, and represent spaces using advanced digital technology in ways that engage with non-specialist audiences.

This chapter is split into two parts, the first outlines some of the technical aspects of 3D laser scanning and how its processes are responsible for the unique aesthetic qualities of the point-cloud model. Then, this essay develops a conceptual understanding of affect in relation to art practice and shows how scanning can help articulate ideas of affect. The second part details two closely linked projects where 3D scanning techniques were used to create an installation based around buildings of historic significance in the town of Huddersfield and then used to create a speculative virtual intervention that responded to the work of the composer Iannis Xenakis who performed on three occasions at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.