MENNO ADEN Room Portraits

[Chris Dodkin]

I found this collection of mind-bending images, following a link from the LA Times photo section.

Menno has taken a series of images, using a ceiling mounted camera, looking down into urban room spaces.

Menno Aden - Room Portraits

Just the idea alone is genius - but the execution also has me asking a million questions about how it was done.

Through challenging camera angles Menno Aden abstracts most familiar actual living environments and public interiors into flattened two-dimensional scale models. A camera that the artist installed on the ceiling of various rooms takes pictures downwards of the interiors. The resulting images lay out space in symmetrical compositions that look like assemblages stripped off any kind of objectivity. The views into private homes and secret retreats bring up associations of the ubiquitous observation camera. The notion of surveillance is systematically played out by the artist to hint at society’s voyeuristic urge that popular culture has made mainstream.

Untitled (Basement II)

Untitled (Lift)

Here's a nice video showing how it's done:

[video=youtube_share;63OlvFfLHxo]http://youtu.be/63OlvFfLHxo[/video]