After printing out the church models, I really liked the way the polygonation affected the way in which you regard the object. Rather than it feeling as though the model was low resolution and intentionally printed that way, it appears as though the plastic melting process has somehow deformed it. I liked this aspect, but I want to focus on the reproductive process. I want to create my own objects potentially, replicating common everyday objects, but maybe converting them into artworks. In a way I want to try to reclaim objects which were designed over generations by many people and convert them into objects which are mine. Sculptural works which are reclaimed and due to my input, I can claim ownership over their design.
I want to start the process of creating these sculptures by finding ways to subvert them. Starting with a basic cube, and thinking about how this shape can be converted into something which is much more interactable.
Here you can see an experiment I created where I have added detailing to a cube, which allows it to break apart into three abstract sculptural sections. When joined up, the details are hidden to some degree but when uncoupled, the details shine through and the way they lock together becomes almost invisible. Enacting this same process with everyday objects could yield some really interesting visuals, perhaps even with experimentation, I could create objects which can reform into other ones from the same set of sculptural pieces. This in itself is almost reproduction repeatedly where a single item can be realigned in multiple ways over and over.
I think looking back, the ideas of interlocking negative space comes from visiting Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture gardens at her home in cornwall years ago. The way that she was able to use an absence of space to evoke space so well astounds me. Strong metallic shapes with large holes looks so alien, and we almost can’t comprehend it, so fill the spaces in our minds. I feel creating similar alien looking bodies could prove really intriguing, and I want to heavily regard the finish I chose on my tests as her finish defines the monolithic sculptures so strongly.
The Love Project links with my ideas so far, aiming to physically reproduce emotional states. This manifestation of metaphysical or mind based concepts is really intriguing and is something which I have touched upon before. I want to explore the non tangible aspects of space and how this can apply to reproductive space.
Here I tested an iphone app which uses the internal camera and sensors which are used for face ID in the iphone X and onwards to create a scan. These scans very much appear as point clouds rather than solid models which could be printed. Yet these seem more evocative of something mental rather than a physical object due to their non solid nature.
Here I used another 3D scanning app and created a A4 and A3 version of the floor matt which the app requires to help define the scans. The first tests were really interesting with the degrasion they created. So I created a much larger version which is over a meter in each direction to scan larger objects. I want to create a series of degrading objects using this method and look at what we regard as the reproduction, is it the image, scan or print that is produced each time. Using a classically common digital object for this purpose could add to the reproductive commentary as something so commonly seen perfectly crisp such as the texture teapot could be eroded through reproductive copying.
Here is the physical outcome from the 3D models I created earlier in order to reproduce a cube with more sculptural appearance and tendencies. It feels functional due to the way in which it locks together. Yet the visible appearance feels heavily sculptural in the same essence as Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures from her gardens. I am pleased with this outcome and it seems even in its physical form, to be lost between physicality and digital space in the way it looks and operates.
Here I have begun to print and scan the first version of the teapot in order to erode it in a natural feeling digital way. From here I want to scan it each time, then reprint it with further stages of erosion each time. Within one iteration the amount of detail is already substantially decreased so with just a few more, the teapot could easily form an amoeboid like blob.
Here is the second stage of the teapot erosion process. In this version, the lid details is massively gone, along with the spout being mainly dissolved and the handle having a huge gap in it. It surprised me how much was lost within a single level of scanning and printing. From this I scanned the already eroded version and the teapot basically just becomes a blob with some slight deformation. I feel that only a few more stages will be needed to have lost all detail from the design. This reproductive metaphor worked in a much stronger way than I expected.
Using an arduino controller I created for a project in a previous year, I wanted to test how these models could interlock within a processing environment, with the interlocking cube model in mind. Above you can see the outcome of this process. I think visually as a digital version it seems to allude to deeper facets that the physical version which I printed. Linking the physical and digital versions would be the most interesting possibility and looking into it could shift the perspective of digital and physical environments, drawing their separated elements nearer together.
Michael Eden’s work is extremely relevant to what I am producing right now. He creates forms which resemble vases or ornate jugs and use 3D printing primarily subverting their purpose through modern reproductive methods. He fills their internal area which would normally be hollow with intricate crazy designs which look procedurally generated. Within his website he talks about the redesign of historical and culturally familiar objects. I feel this is the position I currently find myself in. I would like to move my concepts into more advanced stages as his work appears, vast and interlocking. I may prefer to stay within the digital realm more than he does, but subversion of space is my main intent perhaps, which I didn’t realise before (subversion through reproduction).
Assassins Creed is a widely popular game. The most recent release in the franchise aims to recreate ancient greece and does so very accurately. Previous titles recreated Notre Dame Cathedral which is currently being used to rebuild the burnt down original. This sense of ironic reproduction. The latest title creates spaces for elysium the heaven of ancient greece, atlantis and hades or hell. These spaces being produced in photographic qualities which have never been seen in reality showcases the extent to which digital space can be used as a production tool. Going beyond things which have even been created now, a process which will only continue to happen at higher and higher detail, almost replacing our reality. They rationalise mythology which has been unexplainable for thousands of years, visualising it to the extent where it becomes reality.
- Reproducing things digitally, which aren’t necessarily produced yet, ie: making sound into shape, shape into sound, noise into smell etc.
- Looking at the metaphysical, commenting on our lack of understanding of them.
- Abstracting the highly tangible and clarifying the intangible.
- How we create constructs and then subvert them to mock them. Overloading them, distorting or destroying them.
- Liminal or Digital space allows for the these shifted viewpoints.
- At point do you lose sense of the object and it becomes its own form. Is there a conversation here between the human and machine. Does a Machine recognise these objects after the image is degraded. Interesting discussion between reproduction, erosion/degradation and identification
oogbrain.com 