Ground Truth (n.)

1. The reality of a situation as experienced firsthand rather than by report

2. In 3D computer graphics, ground truth usually refers to straight photographs taken using cameras used as the benchmark to judge the performance of rendering algorithms to achieve photorealism.

During the pandemic in early 2020, I began digitizing my desktop. I created 3D models of the objects using a computer graphic technique known as projective texturing. Using photographs as a reference to shape and add texture details to the virtual objects, I converted my physical desktop into a 3D digital world.

In 3D computer graphics, photographs are not the final product but data to be extracted, information to be mapped onto, and raw material to augment 3D models. Texture maps, normal maps, and bump maps, created from photographic data, describe the reflectance properties of an object in a virtual scene. They give instructions to the render engine to calculate the correct pixel value, generating a photorealistic scene for the human eye. Computer graphics utilizes a network of images taken from different perspectives and at different scales to achieve photorealism. The project investigates one of many algorithmic visual systems that act as a backbone of virtual reality and gaming. Everything Is A Projection is a constellation of 3D models, sculptures, photographs, and a photobook. The photobook consists of an interview with Nvidia head researcher Jaakko Lehtinen and a myriad of visual materials for building the digital scene. The project unveils the grammar of computer graphics that is increasingly shaping our world.

The digitization of my desktop during quarantine produced a dataset of digital objects, each can be shared online and 3D-printed anywhere. The dataset becomes an archaeological site of my everyday life that I have unwrapped and examined close up.; My desktop - an intimate but also strangely generic space, both physical and digital - is unmoored from its fixed spot, expanding beyond the confines of the wall, distributed across time and space.

The book is designed by Emery Norton.

Special thanks to studio master Roel Meijs who gave advice on mold-making and casting.

The artist would like to thank the Arts Promotion Center Finland, Taike, and Frame Contemporary Art Finland for their kind support.