Authorshapes
Collaborative Project with Fab.Lab.SCAD
Collaborative Project with Fab.Lab.SCAD
How can the hand of the artist be represented within a digital framework?
As with any medium, the means of expression lay dormant until moved into motion by creative intent. As an objective medium, the means of digital production provide new paradigms for such intent. The unification of design process and finished product is a characteristic unique to digital production as the form emerges from the process, rather than a process designed around a final form.
As with any medium, the means of expression lay dormant until moved into motion by creative intent. As an objective medium, the means of digital production provide new paradigms for such intent. The unification of design process and finished product is a characteristic unique to digital production as the form emerges from the process, rather than a process designed around a final form.
Enlisting the help of photography majors, each member of Fab.Lab.SCAD was instructed to “paint” a fluid form using a light source in front of a digital camera, beginning and ending in the same position so as to ensure continuous author-shapes were created. The digital photos were randomized and presented to the group, where each member was then asked to pick a shape. Each photo was placed in Abobe Illustrator and live-traced, producing vectors that could be exported into Rhinoceros. These author-shapes were arranged in a random vertical sequence, removing individual identification and any resulting sense of hierarchy within the group. Using a loft command a seamless surface was created through a series of continuous curves between each author-shape. The resulting form derived from unity and balance represents the individual role in collective collaboration: the column.
The structural integrity of the column relies upon the stacking of serial planes. In a Gestaltian sense, the group is greater than the sum of the individuals. The decision to use acrylic is based on the transparent nature of group process. The color change from clear to blue acrylic and interior illumination highlights the author-shapes and spreads light throughout the column. With creative collaboration, the potential of the individual is amplified and conducted through the collective whole as ideas are multiplied and refined.
