Mind Into Matter: New Digital Sculpture

Dr. Francine Koslow Miller
Introductory Statement
Mind into Matter: New Digital Sculpture, organized in conjunction with the first Boston Cyberarts Festival, explores the innovative use of the computer and rapid prototyping (RP) technologies to create three-dimensional art. Curated by art historian and critic Dr. Francine Koslow Miller and Festival Director George Fifield, Mind into Matter is the first international survey show of new digital sculpture. It is funded by a grant from the LEF Foundation. According to Fifield, “This radical new use of the computer and rapid prototyping technologies to create three-dimensional art will revolutionize the field of sculpture in a manner similar to the effect that photography had on painting.” At the moment, only a handful of sculptors are using these cutting edge techniques and Mind into Matter brings together a group of eight pioneering artists from the United States and Europe who produce real sculptural objects directly from 3-D computer designs. Sculptures by Cambridge-based Tim Anderson and Jim Bredt, Dan Collins (Tempe, Arizona), Bill Jones (New York), Michael LaForte (New York), Christian Lavigne (Paris), Denise Marika (Boston), and Michael Rees (Kansas City, Missouri) suggest the wide range of aesthetic possibilities of rapid prototyping. Over twenty sculptures, installations and related digital prints make use of the new computer/printer technology that builds three-dimensional models automatically from computer designed (CAD) files. Through digital high technology, these artists are already changing our perceptions about how sculptures are traditionally made as they turn the artistic visions of the mind into matter.
 
Technique and Terminology
Developed in the late 1980s, rapid prototyping (RP) was initially used by automobile and toy manufacturers and high tech industry to create inexpensive, rapidly produced parts and models for projects. Now embraced by a group of visionary artists who join the medical technicians and design engineers, a rapid prototype machine creates solid, free form fabrications through an automatic additive manufacturing process. In essence, an RP printer machine renders a computer generated (CAD) design in 3-D form by the additive process into material such as epoxy resin or ink-jet powder. The material hardens to form a precise replica of the digital image.

There are seven or eight commercial processes with different materials and qualities and at least ten service bureaus currently producing RP 3-D models. Stereolithography (STL) uses laser cured epoxy resin which produces a translucent amber appearance. Laminated-object manufacturing (LOM) cuts a combination of resin and laminated paper, resulting in a wood-like object. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) fires a laser onto a polycarbonate powder creating a hard white plastic appearance. Three-dimensional Printing (3DP), which solidifies layers of ink-jet powder, is the only method of rapid prototyping through which different colors can be selected. Z Corporation also produces 3-D models layer by layer from powder that is bound by a proprietary liquid, and calls them Zcorp Zprints. The Digital sculptures in Mind into Matter are relatively small in scale. To date RP models which range from 6” cubed to 30”x 20” x 22”. are restrained in size by the printing machines.

CAD and RP go hand in hand. You cannot have a rapid prototype without CAD. The tools of a good CAD program are real world building tools. Images are input via a scanner, through software programs, or by downloading models, and can all be blended into a library of forms. According to sculptor Michael Rees, “I can get several objects and scale them independently or together, fit them inside one another, make an external object transparent, cut things off, and create a library of forms.”  These forms are saved in the library by the 3-D CAD software as a file format known as an .STL.file. The RP system can then create the 3-D object by functioning in a way similar to sending a file to a print queue on a laser printer. The difference is that the options and printer setup in the office computer “think” in two dimensions rather that three. Otherwise the logical steps are quite similar.

New Artistic Possibilities from Rapid Prototyping
CAD allows for techniques and abilities that sculptors have never before had in their studios. Reproducibility is very easy.  Scale also becomes effortless. Scale modification has always been a laborious task for sculptors. To manually scale-up is painstaking and slow. New digital scanning, 3-D software and 3-D printing offer effortless scaling. Scale has great power as an aesthetic force. Having access to effortless scaling will mean a new range of expressive tools for sculptors. In addition, there are the computer filters that 2-D artists have gotten used to, but that will be revolutionary for sculptors. According to Fifield, “A 3-D scanned object can be filtered to look like it was made by Rodin or Modigliani.” While this claim might shock the art historian, Rodin does indeed come to mind when looking for the first time at one of Jim Bredt’s tiny RP sculptures of nude men made from a full body scan and CAD program. Bredt’s perfect replicas of the human body call to mind Rodin’s 1876 Age of Bronze. Rodin’s stunning bronze sculpture of a vanquished soldier produced such a thorough re-creation of the human form that it was wrongly criticized for having been cast from the living male model. The French sculptor’s use of the additive process and pointing process (for reproduction) predict modern day RP technology. Also, the lost wax process by which bronze has been traditionally cast from wax models, can also be used with rapid prototypes. The cellulose and wax vaporize in the mold when heat is applied and the objects can be cast in aluminum, bronze or urethane. Media artist Dan Collins is even able to produce .STL models directly in investment casting wax, thereby eliminating the usual mold building steps used in lost-wax bronze casting. The hybridization between state of the art technology and traditional art processes is fascinating.
(M>M)