Anthropometry, Digital Photograph series 2010 - 2012

Anthropometry is the study of the space the body takes up in a physical space. What follows are studio experiments I was making between 2010-2012 that attempted to disrupt this relationship through action, illusion and humor. I am playing with 1970s archetypal sculptor in his studio visual tropes, as coined by artists like Richard Serra and Bruce Nauman.

We push energy around as we move around in the world.  The space that contains us (air) is filled with resonance.  This resonance is made up of millions of wavelengths: from sound waves to temperature waves to electrical currents.  It is also filled with the energetic resonance coming from any living organism.  Some believe this is what connects all beings, all humans.  How does energy take up space?  How does it relate to architecture?  To the human scale?  To the feeling of a space?  Some people’s field—field of energy, surrounding the body, as it is known, like an aura—is larger than others.  Some people’s field is softer, some rougher.  Usually, without too much extra perception, we can feel these subtle differences.

Anthropometry is a term used in architecture to refer to the measurement of the human individual.  Specifically, it measures the volume of space a human individual fills.  I like thinking about the volume of air that is displaced when I move into a new space—as if air has the same properties of water.  Have you watched the bath fill and lose its water as you sink your body into it and then step out?  We do this with air too.  

Not only do we take up space, but we only understand our location/environment in relation to our bodies.  We would understand nothing without our bodies.  We perceive that the world is built for us.  In fact, it is we, who build our environments for our bodies: stairwells, doorways, windows, the height at which we hang our art, our mirrors, the handles on mugs, the depth of our tables and chairs, everything that goes in our hands. These details create currents by which we can maneuver the world. These currents are also limiting.  We have somehow agreed upon what our bodies need, as if it is the same thing for nearly every body.  I propose we re-imagine the rules and in so doing, re-imagine our world.

Imagine yourself walking.  Imagine yourself walking down a set of stairs and one step isn’t as deep as the one before.  Your body falters, maybe trips.  You weren’t expecting that. It is both the body that is surprised, caught off guard and the body that registers the spatial misplacement.   What would happen if you decided to put your left leg instead of your usual, right leg, in your pants first in the morning?  How might this change the course of your day?