Spatial Photograms: Experimental Cyanotype Photography using 3D Scanning and Printing Technologies

This paper discusses contemporary forms of photographic representation of space and, at the same time, new possibilities of making an objective spatial. Structured in two parts, it articulates an alternative model of photographic space in the form of a Spatial Photogram. We propose a novel photo-graphic practice, based on traditional pre-photographic image-making and today’s digital image methods.
In the first part, we analyze the cultural-artistic context of the historic developments in photography to articulate an objective image of space through comparing the movements of Functional Aesthetics and Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivism) with the pre-photographic practices of camera-less photography – the photogram.
In the second part, we discuss the technical setup in the making of a Spatial Photogram focusing on comparing 3D printing and scanning methods, as well as the making of transfer tools between the digital methods and the chemical-based analogue cyanotype printing.
The result is a material-based image that introduces space as a density – a completely new method to articulate a representation of space in the context of photographic objectivism.