A nude avatar Lady Gaga graces Paper magazine cover

Belgian artist Frederik Heyman has created a computer-generated Lady Gaga from 3D scans of the nude pop star, and placed her in numerous CGI scenarios for the latest issue of Paper. Gaga posed naked for the photoshoot, as described in all its surreal detail in the interview, in a cage lined with cameras to capture every inch of her body.

According to the interview, while striking poses within the 3D scanning box – run by LA-based studio Human Engine – Gaga asked for a song from her upcoming sixth studio album Chromatica to be played on repeat all day. She also commented on her nudity: “I believe we’re making art, this isn’t pornography.”

Heyman then worked with VFX and motion design studio Mathematic and creative director Nicola Formichetti, fashion director for Lady Gaga, to create a computer-generated avatar of Gaga and place her in a series of still and moving tableaux. The lead image shows the star in the cage as a cyborg, exposed robotics in her legs and head, and connected to dozens of electrical cables. Another shows her in a Balenciaga dress and heels, riding a part-machine horse. In another, she is detached at the torso, her body entirely mechanical with only her head and fingers coated in skin.

The issue is titled Transformation, and as such, Paper’s Justin Moran writes in the article that the multimedia cover shoot is “in conversation with the visual language” being created around Gaga’s new album Chromatica, out 10 April. She also comments in the piece that she doesn’t like “futurism for the sake of it,” and muses: “Do you think a robot me is better than a human me?”

Read the full interview here.