Spatial Volume refers to the idea of treating video as a three-dimensional object extended along the time axis. In the provided context, successive frames are stacked in depth to form a virtual volume, sometimes described as a Space-Time Volume or Video Cube. Ordinary video playback is then understood as a highly limited sampling process: it extracts only linear cross-sections of that volume, frame by frame, perpendicular to the time axis.
This concept becomes especially important in Ryu Furusawa’s work, where the volume can be sliced from arbitrary angles rather than only through standard playback. By designing different cutting trajectories through the stacked frames, the work can reveal cross-sections that do not appear in conventional viewing, including distorted or non-linear temporal structures. The video volume is therefore treated not as a sequence of images but as a plastic mass containing color information, open to sculptural manipulation.
The context also links this approach to the principle of slit-scan, expanded computationally. Rather than using slit-scan merely as a visual effect, Furusawa employs it as a sculptural process that questions the structure of media itself. In this framework, spatial volume is a technical and conceptual basis for rethinking how time, space, and perception are organized in digital moving-image works.