Non-face

In digital models, objects sometimes appear that seem real, but that are geometrically impossible and couldn’t physically exist. Either the faces of the figures don’t fit together, or in reality their structures would collapse under their own weight. They are a well-known phenomenon in 3-D animation, where they often appear at the edges of animated worlds. In the Non-Face dome projection, these figures are detached from the models in which they originally occurred to explore the digital possibilities of what would generally be seen as “wrong” or “unreal.”

This work isn’t just about the virtual side of the objects. Sound artist Robert Lippok and digital artist Lucas Gutierrez have translated the impossible geometries into musical patterns that blend to produce layered compositions. By surrounding the virtual objects with this sound and digitally displaying the sound waves, the edges of the animated objects and the strange forms they take are revealed.

This piece is part of the “The New Infinity” programme, co-produced with Berliner Festspiele / Immersion and Planetarium Hamburg.