Scanlines was presented during the Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Practice & Theory Conference and is an interactive installation made from a series of scanners that are mounted on moving sliders in such a way that the light forms a continuous line through the space. People were invited to touch the scanners, and the resulting scans were projected a wall.

Media technology allows us to experience the world in different, magical ways. We can relive the past, be at two places at the same time and imagine being someone else. Yet we often use media technology to speed up production, monitor public space, extract resources, and as a result end up enclosing our imagination. By performing ‘strange’ moments and by sharing these moments with others in the form of installations, I attempt to break these enclosures open. As artistic methods they can catalyse materially informed experiences central to media technology and its infrastructure. In the context of Scanlines, I was interested in making participants focus on their own movements and bodies rather than on the functionality of the scanners. Interestingly, the effect of the line conjured by the scanners was mesmerizing to such an extent that people hesitated to participate. The ambiguity of my installation alienated people from the straightforward act of using the machine. Instead, discussions emerged about body scans, data collection, functionality, and reuse, that allowed people to understand the scanners beyond their intended purpose.