The 2019 Schauerman Digital Art Prize goes to Chirag Jindal for his stunning work ‘No 12 The Uncanny’ which we found to be both artistically stunning and technologically exciting.
We created the Schauerman Digital Art Prize in memory of Nicola’s parents Marie and John and their enthusiasm and support of our work with new technology. The prize is part of The London Group Open. This is the second year of the award which in 2017 went to digital artist Sandra Crisp, now a member of the group. Sandra joined us in deciding this year’s winner from a strong selection of digital works.
‘No 12 The Uncanny’ is not a photograph – it is a 3-D scan with millions of points of data. The work is made using laser technology – a LiDAR scanner. A laser pulse is sent out of a transmitter and the light particles are scattered back to the receiver creating a 3D digital replica of the space. In the case of Uncanny, the scanner was moved through a lava tunnel under an Auckland street and then on the surface above it and finally the two scans were connected. Colour has been sourced using traditional photographic processes and mapped onto each individual point of data.
This work is part of a larger collection entitled ‘Into the Underworld” which documents the lava caves of Auckland, once a site of burial grounds, war shelters and mushroom farms, the caves are considered sacred by local Maori and are unique to the cities volcanic region. Video explanation here.
Chirag Jindal lives and works in New Zealand. He has sent the following statement :
“As a debut project, the work follows many long periods of experimenting, indecision and risk. It’s a privilege to have it be given recognition and a platform for outreach and exposure – especially amongst such talented peers. Naturally, I want to thank the London Group for hosting the 2019 Open exhibition, and Genetic Moo for supporting the progression of digital media as an art form.”
Video about Chirag on FutureMakers website
More images from the underworld series here
And an interview from National Geographic here
