Lazarus: The Death Masks Visualise the Wearer's Last Breath

Introduction

In the new design museum, there is one project that immediately watched my eye. It is the Lazarus mask, which is a collection of death mask that could visualize the wears' last breath by Nari Oxman and MIT Mediated Matter group. It is a 3D printed portraiture, like an air urn that contains facial features and the spatial enclosure of their last breath of the deceased individual.

Traditional Death Mask

Death Mask is "traditionally made of a single material, such as wax or plaster" (Bader et al., 2016). It is often hand made by taking a cast or impression directly from the corpse. In some culture, like Egyptians would "bury the death mask which the individual as they believed it could imbue the wearer with the power of the deceased."(Cannizzaro, 2013) In middle age, the death mask became more like a way of preserving the memory of the deceased.

Traditional death mask

Process

Unlike the traditional handmade analog, the process of making Lazarus is mainly digital with additive manufacture.  "The masks were printed using a multi-material voxel printing method that deposits layers of droplets sequentially in an “inkjet-printer-like process” onto a build platform. " (Lau, 2016) The team invented a software model complicated shape based on data "at a per-pixel resolution, comparable in size to a single sale." (Lau, 2016)

The design of the shape of the death mask and its material composition is informed by the "physical flow of air and its distribution across the surface"(Bader et al., 2016). It was generated by three data," including a heat map of the last breath, a map of the wearer's face, and the path the flow of air takes across the face."(Morby, 2016) The software transformed the data into a three-dimensional design and finally printed by a 3d printer.

Analysis

Most technology is used for designing more efficient and sustainable objects or system that are usually futuristic. However, this project emphasis on past civilization and culture heritage.  The advanced technology was used to reimagine ancient artifacts, transforming them to contemporary arts. "The team expresses the contemporary technological spirit in their version of ancient artifacts. "(Wu, 2016) It is interesting that the project enlivens the new through the ancient, and the ancient through the new.

I was touched by the project on how it transformed a subtle, ephemeral and personalized object like breath to a timeless art piece. It could not be done without the computational design and technologies they invented. In this project, "the technique defines an expression as much as the expression defines the techniques"(Oxman, 2016) It is interesting to see how art and technology is pushing each other forwards.  This high-end technology could be interpreted in lots of areas.The ability to fine-tune properties in high resolution could lead to the design and manufacture of "advanced biomedical devices, self-healing materials, and highly customized building skins." (Lau, 2016).


Reference 

Bader, C., Kolb, D., Sharma, S., Smith, R., Weaver, J. and Oxman, N. (2016). Vespers: Lazarus Environment | London Design Museum. [online] Matter.media.mit.edu. Available at: http://matter.media.mit.edu/environments/details/vespers-lazarus [Accessed 4 Jan. 2017].

Cannizzaro, A. (2013). 7 famous Death Masks in History. [online] Biography.com. Available at: http://www.biography.com/news/famous-death-masks [Accessed 4 Jan. 2017].

Lau, W. (2016). Vespers, the Latest Mask Collection by MIT's Neri Oxman. [online] Architect. Available at: http://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/vespers-the-latest-mask-collection-by-mits-neri-oxman_o [Accessed 4 Jan. 2017].

Oxman, N. (2016). Neri Oxman in conversation with Justin McGuirk. In: J. Mcguirk and G. Herrero, ed., Fear and Love: Reactions to Complex World, 1st ed. London: Phaeton.

Morby, A. (2016). Neri Oxman's Lazarus death masks visualise the wearer's last breath. [online] Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/12/12/neri-oxmans-lazarus-death-masks-visualise-the-wearers-last-breath/ [Accessed 4 Jan. 2017].

Wu, A. (2016). Death Masks From MIT Capture Your Dying Breath. [online] ArchDaily. Available at: http://www.archdaily.com/800176/death-masks-from-mit-capture-your-dying-breath [Accessed 4 Jan. 2017].