Shaping Code, Shaping Clay: Developing, Sharing, and Teaching via Open Source Tools and Techniques for 3D Printing in Clay

Description

Precisely at the intersection of digital tools and physical objects lies the technology of 3D printing which is poised to have a significant impact upon the culture of making, manufacturing, and education. Introducing this technology into the context of teaching in creative disciplines poses significant challenges. 3D printing is complex, costly, and often reliant on hazardous materials. Presenters Jonathan Keep and Tom Lauerman have developed open-source, low-cost tools for printing with clay rather than plastic. Their approach, which empowers the individual "tinkerer" with a limited budget and encourages experimentation with materials and hybridization with many traditional means of creating form.

Timetable

Eschewing a linear format, Jonathan and Tom engage in an inclusive conversation focusing on self-empowerment and desire to explore technology in a leading rather than a following way. Conversation begins with community-based development techniques focused on sharing, archiving, and transferring digital knowledge. Topic shifts to open source software and hardware tools for 3D design and printing. Presentation concludes with the theme "Physical and Virtual". Including a look at scale and gravity in relation to materials and objects. As well as a focus on the importance of touch and the experience of physical objects in relation to coding and the virtual.

Takeaway

The session prioritizes accessibility and empowerment. Presenters aim to demystify complex technology and to encourage learning via engagement and hands-on experimentation. A D.I.Y. approach is argued for, stressing the importance throughout history of artists knowing and defining their tools by making (and occasionally breaking) and remaking their tools. Another key takeaway is that a transformative technology, 3D printing, is presented not as a replacement for traditional ways of working but as an augmentation of those familiar processes and techniques. Presenters have worked for many years within established modes prior to their involvement in the development of clay printing.

Abstract

3D Printing and Digital Fabrication technologies have begun to alter the landscape of Design and Making at all levels from factory production to the artist’s studio. Tom Lauerman (US) and Jonathan Keep (UK) will discuss their individual but related approaches to making these technologies accessible to educators and arts practitioners based on their ongoing transatlantic correspondence. Representing a tradition of artist as inventor and tinkerer, both presenters have designed and distributed their own tools for 3D printing in clay, linking new technology with one of the oldest and most accessible art materials.

Both presenters choose to work with an ethos of sharing and an emphasis on open source software and hardware tools. Their approach favors an emphasis on invention, exploration, and creativity instead of an emphasis on discrete problem solving, cost reduction, and speed. As participants in an open source community, the presenters seek to ensure that limited budgets need not be an obstacle to encouraging experimentation with digital materials and techniques.

Eschewing a linear format for this presentation, Jonathan and Tom will engage in a conversation with the audience focusing on self-empowerment and desire to explore technology in a leading rather than a following way. This format of presentation takes on two strands. First, the presenters will augment their conversation with example images, short videos, as well as a demonstration of experimental clay printing technologies. In this way the presenters hope to illustrate effective ways of integrating digital media into a teaching and workshop environment where digital aids enhance learning.

Secondly the presenters focus on incorporating digital techniques, processes, and material to aid creative ways of working. Taking Digital Fabrication as a subject, the presenters discuss approaches that seek to manage the steep learning curve that the subject area presents to a newcomer or a practitioner of traditional techniques. This conversation highlights the insight that while software and hardware are the toolset, computation is the underlying process that drives it all.

Conversation will begin with an in-depth look at community-based development techniques focused on sharing, archiving, and transferring digital knowledge. Next, a look at the landscape of open source software and hardware tools for 3D design and printing will present diverse strategies appropriate to very different and esoteric creative approaches. The presentation concludes with the theme of "Physical and Virtual". This includes a look at scale and gravity in relation to materials and objects. The materiality and practicality of the clay material, and also touch and the experience of physical objects in relation to coding and the virtual. A Q&A session will follow the presentation.

Throughout this presentation the themes of access and empowerment via community sharing and a do-it-yourself approach to technology recur. Jonathan and Tom provide context for new making technologies by illustrating how new tools take their place alongside ancient techniques in both of their studios. It is argued that digital fabrication technology is an enhancement rather than a replacement for established processes for creative work in clay and that ultimately the most interesting outcomes may result from a hybridized approach. There is something to be learned from the structure of digital computation and that is in essence it reduced everything to a simple binary system. The lesson to be learned is to think simple and the complexity will come with permutations of simple thought.