‘Doc Labyrinth... had become convinced that our civilisation was going the way of Rome. He saw, I think, the same cracks forming that had sundered the ancient world, the world of Greece and Rome; and it was his conviction that presently our world, our society, would pass away as theirs did, and a period of darkness would follow.’
‘Now Labyrinth, having thought this, began to brood over all the fine and lovely things that would be lost in the reshuffling of societies. He thought of the art, the literature, the manners, the music, everything that would be lost’.
(Dick P.K., The Preserving Machine, 1953)
These opening paragraphs really seem to resonate as being particularly timely. Much of what we have held dear and thought valuable has been threatened during these current times. And all that which provides stability, reassurance and familiarity is even more significant. This includes, for many of us, the arts and culture whose future could now
be in crisis.
‘The Preserving Machine’ takes as its starting point a high resolution scan of the Venus de Milo sculpture found in the Louvre Museum, Paris. Systematic polygon reduction processes were used to simplify the form whilst retaining an indexical trace of the original.
These were then 3D printed and photographed using Polaroid film. This results in an inherently unstable, unique photographic image.
