Digital Exchange
#5 - 2024
#4 - 2021
#3 - 2017
#2 - 2015
#1 - 2013
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Digital Exchange
In 2013, the Brno institute found an unexpected ally in the School of Visual Arts in New York City. The project Digital Exchange developed naturally based on mutual understanding that developed during a visit of educators and artists from this school to FFA BUT. The statues that students designed for this project where sent in the form of data to the 3D workshop of the cooperating institution, where they materialized by means of 3D printing. This concerned works of minor dimensions, whose size – to facilitate the production process – always corresponds to the amount of given printing space of the printer. For the same reason, statues are not given a secondary surface treatment, so the beholder is confronted with a “rough” outcome from the 3D printer, which sees no further refinement by its creator. This procedure was chosen with regard to the nature of the project, comprised of an exchange of printing data, and if possible, easy production of objects without the need for further refinement by their respective artists. These would have been extremely difficult to implement due to the geographic distance between both institutions. At Brno’s FFA however, this rather concerns an exceptional approach; students use this media more frequently as a supporting technology, applied mainly in the preparation process. Works are very often given additional surface treatment, and their final rendering using classic sculpting techniques is no exception.
Incorporating 3D technologies into sculpting work brings with it certain hallmarks, such as applying the principle of shape deformation, multiplication of elements, combining semantically incongruent shapes, or use of the motif of a polygonal network simulating the shape and volume of an object, whose increase of visibility in the creation must always be considered thoroughly, then duly emphasized or balanced. That is, one can say that applied technologies in individual works of utterly differing artists during their first use are often easily distinguishable, which may lead to the impression of uniformity and the absence of the artist’s own input. Michal Gabriel effectively refutes such obvious simplification by saying: “The computer does not come up with anything on its own…it is only a very expensive chisel.” He is certainly right in this, and such emphasis on classic sculpting procedures is characteristic in his approach to teaching; incorporating 3D modeling, scanning and printing is thus a kind of added value, which professors Gabriel and Medek offer their students. The expressive features of the applied material (ABS plastic and plaster composites), which are now used most frequently in 3D printing, are also very specific, but they do not achieve nearly as much of an aesthetic effect as traditional sculpting materials such as wood, stone or metal. 3D printing technologies however hide within even revolutionary possibilities in the area of implementing complicated, often nearly filigreed structures, whose creation is not possible any other way.
Jana Kořínková, catalogue Digital Echange, Brno2014
Digital sculpting represents the way to new topicsand forms. It provides access to a world of shapes intheir accuracy and diversity, and gives room for rapid materialization of the most complex shaped creations. Itignores the beauty and strength of materials and leaves artists with just pure form to develop with their creativity. The logics of traditional sculptural practices have started to change as well. Sculptures can now be formed without depending on physical laws and possibilities of materials; the choice of material may even come up during the last phase of work, when the shape of a sculpture has been completely finished. Large sculptures are created and completed from a mere sketch. The sculpture is may be completed as far as its size and shape is concerned, but it can still change its appearance to be mirror-reflected or one of many other ways its volume and surface can be treated. Thanks to 3D scanning, a sculptor’s work can start with a realistically accurate model. The tool for processing digital sculptures lies within the modification of its data files. This opens a huge area of an unexplored world of shapes. Thanks to 3D technologies, we can not only enter this world, but also realize our visions and ideas that emerged in it, freed from matter and materials. I cannot foresee where and how this process ends, but I am glad it has started.
Michal Gabriel, catalogue Digital Exchange 2, Brno 2015
Virtual technologies are allowing for many new ways to view and share exhibitions. Devices such as the Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard can create a virtual reality experience by way of lenses and video projections. Students (and other interested individuals) can experience museums, historical sites, and more from the comfort of their classroom or home. Museums that are halfway around the world, normally unreachable by any feasible means, can be viewed with a simple download. Historical sites that may not even exist anymore can be recreated in a three-dimensional space to create a unique experience that can be easily shared.
In this same sense, we have used 3D modeling and 3D printers at SVA and FFA BUT to share our artwork with each other. Over the past years, our students have already been creating sculptures by way of digital means. By creating 3D models on the computer, we can use the information to ”print” the digital 3D model into a physical 3D sculpture, layer by layer. The 3D printers used to fabricate the sculptures only require materials to print and a 3D digital model in the form of a digital file. Since the digital file can be sent by digital transmission (via email or otherwise), we are able to send and receive files to anyone in the world. This process of sharing is what led us to our Digital Exchange with FFA BUT.
As technology advances, our methods of sharing will advance and become even more sophisticated. Moving forward, we hope to continue our collaboration as it evolves with our foremost goal being a rewarding experience for the students at SVA and FFA BUT.
Michael Falk, catalogue Digital Exchange 2, Brno 2015