The Volca Project

Abstract

The Volca project is a speculative photography research project that is in parts a proposal, a sensory experiment and also continual work in progress. Volca is an experimental camera apparatus for recording what Flusser would term 'technical images'. It's design is to deliberately open the discussion of what it is to be photographer, or collaborator or even facilitator of a complex apparatus with a discrete system at it's core. A system that extends beyond the physical body of the device and reaches into the heart of our human culture of creation, consumption, reflection, storytelling and the active shaping of our identity and self image. The project has several separate aspects dealing with hardware, software, interaction design and media and photographic theory. This paper and the body of work it describes is the first collection of portraits and street photography produced with this new apparatus. The collection is arranged as a virtual reality photographic essay or artists photo-book. The making, distribution, display and consumption of these new speculative photographs is a vital part of the investigation of what can be considered the system of photography. A system where camera and photographer are only a small part of the philosophical whole.