Volumetric images and index effects: Correcting the record through immersive experiences of war and austerity

In this article I examine two case study immersive artworks Murals (2023) and Museum of Austerity (2023) that play with the possibilities of photogrammetry, LiDAR and volumetric capture to represent and communicate emotionally affecting documentary stories. While recent theories of (digital) photography, volumetric and networked images have challenged the image as a record of truth, I argue that the use of 3D capture technologies in these artworks can be situated in relation to a line of photographic theory that emphasises the indexical quality of photographic images, their capacity to appear as a certificate of presence or a trace of the real. The artworks discussed in this article both work with the potent reality effects and affective presences of 3D images to make the emotional (and political) themes of their work more impactful, memorable and empathic. While artworks using these technologies of capture might problematically conceal the processes of mediation that 3D scanning relies on to create coherent and ‘authentic’ volumetric images, they politicise their reality effects to correct the record , thereby challenging dominant governmental narratives about the contexts and stories that they depict, namely, post-austerity Britain and the Russia-Ukraine war.