Anthropometrics

Antonia Hirsch December 1, 2004

(tip of the nose to outstretched hand = one meter)

(hand reaching across the head to the opposite ear = ready to attend school)

(distance between the fingertips of outstretched arms = height of the body)

(twice the wrist’s circumference = circumference of the neck)

(circumference of the fist = length of the foot)

(centre of the chest to outstretched hand = one meter)

(space between the tip of the thumb and forefinger = eight inches)

(length of the forearm = length of foot)

(length of foot = one foot)

(size of two fists = size of the brain)

(length of the first two phalanges of the index finger = length of the nose)

(width of two fingers = one cun; the 72 part of the height of the body )

An inventory of colloquial methods of measurement, Anthropometrics uses the human body as its base reference and traces vernacular methods of measurement that remain in use parallel to official and standardized systems.

The project has appeared across Berlin, Ottawa, and Vancouver as large screen-printed posters. In keeping with the work’s focus on the vernacular, its dissemination relied on the informal (and semi-legal) economy that utilizes transitional, temporarily unregulated urban sites such as abandoned buildings and construction hoardings.

2004 –2009
screen-printed posters (series of 12)
w 100cm h 125cm
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