Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Edinburgh
The Long Exposure
This practice-based research project investigated the aesthetic possibilities of Direct Manufacturing through 3D printing to create visualisations and materialisations of intangible subjects.
The output comprises a series of works entitled ‘The Long Exposure’, whose central theme of capturing time and motion develops the work of such historical and contemporary practitioners as Eadweard Muybridge, Harold Edgerton and Jonathan Shaw.
These works feature the tangible trace of bird and moth trajectories. Each subject was tracked in controlled environments through a series of 3D motion sensors: the bird recorded flying from point to point and the moth in relation to the stimulus of a static light-source. This data was then transferred onto a digital file that created sinuous 3D extrusions that were materialized through the exploration of the new models of 3D printing and manipulation.
The output ‘Attracted to Light’ was included in the 2008 Museum of Modern Art New York exhibition, ‘Design and the Elastic Mind’ curated by Paola Antonelli. ‘Flight’ was included in the 2010 Estorick Collection exhibition, ‘On the Move: Visualising Action’, and was presented alongside the work of Italian Futurists Giacomo Balla and Umberto Boccioni and pioneers of motion photography Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey. Further exhibitions included Digitaler Formenschatz, Munich; The International Bombay Sapphire Awards, Milan; European Glass Context, Denmark; Talente; Munich, Tatorte; Passagen,Jerwood Contemporary Makers Prize, London and Applied Design, MoMA New York.
Both outputs have been acquired for public collections: ‘Attracted to Light’ by the Museum of Modern Art New York and ‘Flight’ to Norwich Castle Museum. The outputs were awarded the World Craft Council Prize for Glass in 2008 and the Jerwood Contemporary Makers Prize in 2009. The research was published within ‘Digital by Design: Crafting Technology for Products and Environments’ by Troika, and ‘Limited Edition: Prototypes, One-Offs and Design Art Furniture’ by Sophie Lovell.
