Jeff Lovett » MPSU

The Crude and the Rare Exhibition Photos

jlovett11211 — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:17:21 +0000

Last Tuesday The Crude and the Rare opened at The Cooper Union in New York. The majority of the following photos are from the exhibition a few hours before the opening a few were taken during the opening.

For a more detailed look at the images, see: http://jefflovett.net/index.php/2009/12/mpsu-acid-mine-drainage/

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MPSU – Acid Mine Drainage

jlovett11211 — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:29:04 +0000

On December 17th Matthew Friday, Dr. Bernhard Debatin, Jason Nein and I visited four separate sites of acid mine drainage (AMD). These scans are from this site visit.

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Ghosts of Repetition – Shawnee

jlovett11211 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:03:29 +0000

The following high resolution surface scans are taken with the MPSU (mobile platen scanning unit). These images, upon inspection, reveal a glimpse of the decline from a once thriving community center to the meager town that Shawnee is today.

In these scans, time is compressed; past becomes present, present becomes future, the artificial and natural co-mingle and the artifacts become “ghosts of repetition”.

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MPSU Shawnee 091204

jlovett11211 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:11:58 +0000

Another cold day on the streets of Shawnee with the mobile platen scanning unit (MPSU). From time to time the MPSU requires more hands thank I have and on this trip I had an assistant with me, Kent Cubbage.

We explored the main street of Shawnee finding our way in to the rarely opened antiques store. We walked in and the door jingled a bell over our heads. Two old men craned their necks around to see who it was. The coal fed pot belly stove in the middle of the room gave a welcome warmth. The propriter and his friend were kind but dismissive to our strange motivations as we searched the interior of the building.

Back out into the cold. We encountered the pile of coal and lumber that the old men were using to keep warm. The few remaining traces of ice crystals from the season's first snow remained in the shadows of once noble buildings.

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MPSU in Shawnee

jlovett11211 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:59:30 +0000

This afternoon was a cold one in Shawnee and it was as empty as a ghost town. In stark contrast, beneath every fallen leaf and embedded in every patch of dirt, artifacts of this community's previous glory were abundant.

In these scans, time is compressed; past becomes present, present becomes future, the artificial and natural co-mingle and the artifacts become "ghosts of repetition"*.

* - "ghosts of repetition" is a phrase coined by W. G. Sebald. I came across this phrase in the article An Archival Impulse by Hal Foster (October 110, Fall 2004 pp 3 - 22).

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Mobile Platen Scanning Unit

jlovett11211 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:49:03 +0000

The Mobile Platen Scanning Unit, or MPSU for short, consists of a Canoscan LiDE 100 flatbed scanner and a Lenovo X200 Tablet PC attached back to back.

The MPSU affords the unique ability to create high resolution images on site.

The following are images from the initial testing phase of the unit:

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