Herbert Read stated in 1936 that
‘The
real problem is not to adapt machine production to the aesthetics
of handicraft, but to think out new aesthetic standards for new
methods of production.’
The limited edition Artefacts of a New History (2016) is a
collector box featuring nine different intricate ceramic 3d prints
produced using Unfold’s finest
printing capabilities. The
collection resembles a set of artefacts like those you might find
in a natural history museum, on one hand they look ancient, like
fossils, but on closer inspection they reveal their strange
technical nature…
Herbert Read stated in
1936 that
‘The real problem is not to adapt machine
production to the aesthetics of handicraft, but to think out new
aesthetic standards for new methods of production.’
The limited edition Artefacts of a New History (2016) is a
collector box featuring nine different intricate ceramic 3d prints
produced using Unfold’s finest
printing capabilities. The
collection resembles a set of artefacts like those you might find
in a natural history museum, on one hand they look ancient, like
fossils, but on closer inspection they reveal their strange
technical nature…
Artefacts of a New History started in 2011 as a research project
into the intrinsic qualities of the extrusion based ceramic 3D
printing process. Early on it was observed that traditional thin
walled objects pose a challenge during printing with objects
collapsing under their own weight during printing. Resembling the
idea of the buttresses used in gothic architecture, lighter and
stronger structures can be created by integrating a scaffolding
into the design of the object itself. Instead of building objects
out of thin and unstable walls, they can be printed using complex
geometric structures. These types of structures would be very
difficult to obtain with traditional ceramic processes, where extra
complexity requires a more complicated and expensive mould, but
with 3d printing there is no penalty when an object is made more
complex.
Artefacts of a New History has been acquired by the following
institutes for their permanent collection: CID Grand Hornu (BE);
Design Museum Ghent (BE); Porzellanikon Staatliches Museum für
Porzellan (DE), Molda, Caldas da Rainha (PT) &
Musée National Adrien Dubouché Limoges (FR).
Artefacts of a New History has been exhibited in, amongst
others:
INTERSECTIONS #4 at Art & Design Atomium
Museum, Brussels (BE) and
Unfold Recollected soloshow at
Gallery Valerie Traan,
Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping
the Future, a traveling show.
Numbered edition of 10 + 2AP
D 205, W 415mm, H 65mm
maple wood box with silkscreen print, nine 3d-printed porcelain
artefacts
fig. 01-04: photography by Kristof Vrancken
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