Space Requirements of the Living Operator

about the piece

Space Requirements of the Living Operator” is based on the 2024 research paper “The Cadaver in the Machine.” Written by researchers from Cornell University and other institutions, the study serves as both a metaphor and a scientific critique of how deeply rooted, biased assumptions about the human body are embedded in modern technologies. At its core is the 1955 study “Space Requirements of the Seated Operator” by scientist Wilfred Taylor Dempster, which extensively documents early research into the human body and its mathematical modelling. It relied heavily on the dissection and measurement of deep-frozen body parts from white, athletic male cadavers. These data also served as the gold standard for motion capture, leaving out women, people with other skin tones and body types, and people with disabilities, among others.

The experimental CGI video work “Space Requirements of the Living Operator” stages the symbolic struggle of these forgotten and excluded body types. Some of the earliest freely available motion capture data from Carnegie Mellon University were used as the basis for movement, supplemented by complex soft-body and muscle simulations. In doing so, the work breaks apart the rigid historical “gold standard,” bringing the suppressed organic dimension back into the machine.
Visually, this process unfolds through extreme close-ups of skin and bodily landscapes. All 3D models and textures were created from scratch using digital sculpting and a combination of procedural techniques.
The sound design combines noises from the human body—from cracking joints to the brushing of skin—with electronic sounds. The organic sounds were digitally manipulated, distorted, and woven into an original soundtrack composed specifically for the work.

The video’s dramaturgy follows a three-part structure. Initially, the focus is on the frozen, white skin of the historical model. In the second part, the organic mass begins to free itself, before the bodies finally break out of the old standards following an explosive, symbolic struggle.

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credits

Concept & Development: Bernd Kopf | Project Concept: The Cadaver in the Machine — Christoph Winkler

A production by Company Christoph Winkler.
Funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.