A key aspect of the generative sculpture series that will be presented in Rome in December 2014 will focus on how a ceramic mechanism can be presented not only as a fully working mechanism, but also as a *specific* kind of not-working mechanism. I can design and sculpt many different kinds of mechanisms on a continuous range between not-working and working. My point is that the working mechanism is not the end result, but rather simply an instance along a continuum that includes non-working versions of itself and also working versions of similar mechanisms.
Some of these notes happened before coffee, this morning.
Showing how slide distance might be chosen based on diameter of circles in the drawing
In these notes I'm fleshing out specifics of what happens when rule sets mingle and produce interesting not-working mechanisms. Hinge design was too complicated pre-coffee, so I started with a simple circular or rectangular tube.
My premises:
1. 2D drawings of plans can change in certain ways. For example, the pattern for a rectangular box can be slid without changing, rotated on the plane, skewed up from the plane, and if distortions are allowed, elongated or even freely distorted along both axes. Only some of these changes still produce a box at all. Some of the more dramatic changes to the pattern might not even look like a box at all.
2. My manufacture methods in 3D can change in certain ways. For example, how literally should the pattern be followed? If the pattern is for metal folding pieces intended to be filled with plaster, how much plaster is used? And many other questions that a set of rules can be made to address.
I'm interested to show over several sculptures the ways in which the changes that are noticeable and rather simple in 2D plans affect the 3D forms that take essential information from those drawings for their manufacture.
One main constraint on the 3D sculptures that involve metal plates and plaster is the notion that the amount of plaster available for pouring has been conserved, or constrained. When I do this, the forms accepting plaster will either be too small or too large to contain the plaster evenly with its fill level. My challenge is to allow for this.
Three examples from a bit of graphic manipulation:
original geometry pattern with floor phased away from form, colored white
second phase of parts selected from drawing, colored dull rose
tracing of various outlines and connecting lines, phased away from drawing, colored faint white
More to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
