This week sees two pertinent exhibitions involving digital design, cultural heritage and 3D printing open to the public.
In Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) museum, 10 3D printed ceramic vases bearing the name of 10 culturally significant objects or concepts have gone on permanent display to visitors. This experimental exhibit, entitled Future Relics, was organized by CSMVS, Google Arts & Culture Lab, and the British Museum.
Concurrently, the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia is hosting the largest public exhibition of the works of artist Joris Laarman outside the Netherlands, Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age. Laarman regularly incorporates digital culture, 3D printing, and design engineering into his works.
Design in the Digital Age
Founded in 2004, the Joris Laarman Lab brings together scientists, engineers, programmers, and traditional crafts practitioners to approach design in an innovative, multidisciplinary fashion.
The Laarman Lab’s designs are realized using research, experimentation, and the application of cutting-edge technology.
Notable examples of these will be on display at the Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age exhibition, which was organized by the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.
Featured Joris Laarman Lab exhibits
Central to the exhibition will be the Dragon Bench (2014), manufactured using the same 3D printing technique as the MX3D Bridge and steel bike projects. This process originally used the Laarman Lab’s robots to draw large objects in mid-air using quick-drying resin. The robots were later developed to weld and 3D print metal in mid-air.
Another featured exhibit is the Adaption Chair (2014), which was produced as part of the Laarman Lab’s Microstructures project. The Laarman Lab SLS 3D printed the chair with a substrate, before coating it with metal and burning away the substrate.
Sarah Schleuning, High Museum of Art curator of decorative arts and design said that “Laarman and his Lab are designed pioneers and idea detonators,” adding that,
“Laarman’s intellectual, thoughtful and collaborative approach to design propels him to explore new means and methods for creating, resulting in a remarkably innovative and beautiful body of work.”
Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age is on display now until 13 May 2018.
Future Relics, the product of the present
The Future Relics exhibit is the first Google Arts & Culture Lab experiment in India, and was conceived as a new attraction for India and the World: A History in Nine Stories exhibition on in at the CSMVS museum.
Using the Google Handwriting tool, visitors were given a chance to write down an object they would want archaeologists to remember 1,000 years from now on a virtual pot. This could be in Hindi, English or Marathi, which are the three official languages of the Indian state of Maharastra.
Google Translate grouped similar words together, transcending the language barrier and drawing thematic connections across the three languages and placing them in groups on the virtual vases.
3D printing the Future Relics
From thousands of contributions, ten vases were 3D printed with clay and each bears the name of one of the ten most significant objects that the visitors described. The objects words were: Mobile, Car, Computer, Books, Can, Utensils, Spectacles, Plastic, Gold, and Soil.
The vases digitally designed and 3D printed using customized technology by artist Ronald Rael. They were glazed in a traditional manner by one of India’s leading master ceramics craftsmen, Shri Brahmdeo Ram Pandit.
The vases represent a meeting of traditional craftsmanship and innovation and function as a time capsule of the current age. Gifted to the museum, they are now on permanent display as a relic for future generations to uncover.
Let us know what you think the most significant 3D printing design innovation has been this year. Nominations for the 3D Printing Industry Awards 2018 are only open for another week. Submit yours now.
Do you have the winning design for this year’s trophy? Protolabs is sponsoring the 2018 3D Printing Industry Awards design competition. Submit your design now to win a 3D printer.
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Featured image shows the unveiling of the ‘Future Relics’ with Mr. Mukherjee (Director of CSMVS), B.R. Pandit (Master Ceramicist), and Simon Rein (Program Manager, Google Arts & Culture). Photo via Google Arts & Culture.
