Glance of Death: A Collection of Unique 3D Printed Sculptures

IMTS

Share this Article

Given the proliferation of zombie movies that flood the cinema and late night television every year, you shouldn’t be surprised that there is interest in the workings of the human body after death. Realistically, there are a number of body functions that continue after the moment of death and one of them is cadaveric spasms, a type of muscle stiffening that occurs and then persists into the stage of rigor mortis. These spasms affect the positioning of a body after death and before external manipulation. For example, cases have been documented of the bodies of drowning victims found clutching reeds or branches. Rather than the muscles relaxing and the grip releasing, it is captured and becomes part of the rigid form of the body.

93e202d355a05e3db4e3407dd200d37fWhile some of you may already be wondering why you have chosen to read this far into this macabre description, Amsterdam-based artist George Stamenov was sufficiently interested in this idea to create a series of sculptures that attempt to portray this idiosyncratic movement as it is captured in death.

Using images of bodies in their undisturbed post-mortem positions that he collected from around the web, he has created a series entitled “Glance of Death.” In an interview with 3DPrint.com, Stamenov explained his project:0b93ab6fa173ea569df441659bc24ef8

“The idea of ‘Glance of Death’ came from an article I read in a science magazine about the process of death. In the article the multiple processes occurring in our bodies before death were discussed. The one that caught my attention most was the post-mortem muscle spasms. The position of our body after death depends on the position in which we are dying as well as post-mortem convulsing in our muscles. I interpret this process as the last ‘animation’ of our body carrier. I am fascinated by the way our bodies have been sculpted into position as a result of muscle spasms.”

The figures are as disturbing as you would imagine. Divorced of their context and wrenched free of recognizable surfaces, they are presented as unraveling and strangely dynamic. These are not images of peaceful repose; they appear poised for motion despite death or possibly even because of it. Strings of stranded filament create the appearance of creatures enveloped in a sticky web or unwrapping themselves from a cadaverous cocoon or of the threads of trajectory lines laid out at the scene of a crime.

f178578b791b205b3a975584a32cb45cThe weakest in the set is a Christ-like figure stretched out with widespread arms; it lacks the dynamism of the others and appears not only inert but staged.

The bone white plastic creates the appearance of an exoskeleton and the incongruence of such a macabre voyeurism and the lack of blood and gore only serves to goad the imagination rather than to give relief.

01864a544c2ad85045c7cac660f300bdIn the movies and shows where the dead walk, a portion of the horror is the grotesque appearance of their outer shell. However, as so much of communication is non-verbal, much of the terror is portrayed through their strange movements and irregular and tightly contorted muscular aberrations. It is this form that is so frightening and that Stamenov has captured so well here. We don’t need the makeup, the gaping wounds, or the rotting flesh to terrify us–give us the malformation of death and our imaginations will concoct the rest.

 

Share this Article


Recent News

UnionTech Showcases Innovative RSPro1400 3D Printer at AMUG 2024 with RP America

Liquid Metal 3D Printing Sector Emerges with Fluent Metal’s $5.5M Investment



Categories

3D Design

3D Printed Art

3D Printed Food

3D Printed Guns


You May Also Like

3D Printing News Unpeeled: Solenoids, Hydrogel Buildings and Missiles

Malgorzata A. Zboinska and others at Chalmers University of Technology and the Wallenberg Wood Science Center have managed to 3D print a hydrogel made of alginate and nano-cellulose. They hope...

Featured

Printing Money Episode 15: 3D Printing Markets & Deals, with AM Research and AMPOWER

Printing Money returns with Episode 15! This month, NewCap Partners‘ Danny Piper is joined by Scott Dunham, Executive Vice President of Research at Additive Manufacturing (AM) Research, and Matthias Schmidt-Lehr,...

Featured

Insights from the Frontline: Key Takeaways from the AMS 2024 CEO Panel

At the 2024 Additive Manufacturing Strategies (AMS) event in New York City, a panel of sector CEOs took the stage, transforming what could have been just another industry talk into...

Desktop Metal Partners with Cantor Fitzgerald for $75M Stock Sale

Desktop Metal (NYSE: DM) has recently made significant moves in its paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), sparking a bit of curiosity about its next steps. Just...