Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, FACT seek volunteers to take part in Headspace project

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and FACT are looking for volunteers to take part in a groundbreaking project which will impact on the future development of craniofacial surgery. The Headspace project, created by Alder Hey in conjunction with FACT and associated artists will develop a comprehensive database of human head shapes using state of the art 3D photography.

A specially designed camera, constructed in the window of FACT on Wood Street in Liverpool City Centre, will be aiming to capture over 1000 3D photographs of heads to form the largest research database of its kind in the world and the first in the UK. The photographs will be taken with the latest 3D surface imaging technology from 3dMD and will be used to study head sizes and shapes to develop life enhancing surgery.

Headspace will be open to the public from Thursday 26th September to Sunday 1st December with volunteers able to drop in between 12pm and 6pm  (7pm on a Wednesday) to have their 3D picture taken for the project. There will be a special late night opening on the 26th September and Thursday 3rd October until 8pm.

Christian Duncan, Craniofacial Surgeon at Alder Hey and the project lead explains: “This is a pioneering project combining arts, science and health to make a real difference on how surgery is developed in the future. The benefits of this research are huge; from helping to design surgical operations to enhancing our ability to comparing the outcomes of surgery. There are potential wider benefits too, for example in forensics and police work. We hope as many people as possible can find some time to pop in, have a quick picture taken and be part of this revolutionary work.”

A programme of events celebrating neurosciences will run alongside the project, including interactive talks and seminar talks by medical professionals.

The project forms part of the related programme for a solo exhibition of works by artist and filmmaker Mark Boulos which will be on display at FACT between 3 October to 21 November. This exhibition includes the premiere of large-scale video installation Echo which combines neuro-scientific research and innovative camera techniques to create a three-dimensional effect visible to the naked eye.