John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

the same time they offer a greater opportunity to engage with 'what' an object is
(Dunne, 1999, p.12). For example, with RP there is no need to worry about
undercuts 4 since there is no mould involved.
The expanded access to these technologies has come about by software
applications that compile the necessary programming code from a virtual
representation of the designed object. This capacity has essentially made
programming the necessary instructions to fabricate a complex geometric entity
into a visual activity (Callicott, 2001, p.55). Through adopting these
technologies, the processes of design and production have been brought closer
together. Designs that were previously too expensive or too experimental to be
realised are now more practical propositions (Callicott, 2001, p.5) within the
reach of less-specialised practitioners working alone or in smaller groups.
These technologies already support small-scale manufacturing and customised
manufacture and production 5 . This type of object accounts for a minor share of
the overall market with the technologies mostly being used for making
commercially designed prototypes. However, now the Internet is starting to
create a demand for RP to small-scale production. The tools to support ‘ondemand’
production/fabrication are becoming more accessible to small
enterprises.
2.2 A brief history of art and (industrial) technology
One of the key drivers for this research is to identify the mechanisms for
integration of formerly industrial technologies into art and design practice. The
relationship between art and technology is an interesting one. It could be
claimed that in our contemporary digital age 'art' and 'technology' are in
convergence. This is referred to as a 'third culture' by Brockman (1995) drawing
on ideas developed by Snow (1959) in an analysis of the cultures of the arts and
humanities; and science and technology. This idea of a hybrid 'third culture' is
an important one for this study. The current research seeks to re-examine
object making using computer-based design and fabrication tools from a
4 RP does present its own concerns such as the orientation of the part and the generation of support structures to
optimise the build and of course if the part produced has to be moulded then parting lines and undercuts are just as
important.
5 This is easily illustrated by the computer-manufactured designs for lighting and decorative objects rapid
manufactured and sold under the .MGX brand by the company Materialise (specialists in the field of RP).
http://www.materialise-mgx.com/
- 17 -