Synchronize (2016)

Artist statement

Flatbed scanner, technically speaking, is a digital camera with a moving image sensor. For it to produce a so-called “successful” image, the sensor has to move from one end of the glass plate to the other, while the object being scanned remains stable. This mode of rendering image introduces a time latency that is uncommon, if not impossible, in a conventional image-making process.

The inability for a scanner to deal with instant moment the way a camera does, or the potential for it to record movements and changes within its scan duration, has inspired me to experiment with the device using a non-utilitarian approach. During each scan, objects are moved across the glass plate in an attempt to synchronize with the movement of the scan head. Each attempt of this synchronization is therefore recorded by the flatbed scanner, and compressed into a single image that in fact depicts more than a single moment.