How do the tools we use affect our choices as designers and artists? Rather than just design with an off the shelf CNC device in mind, what does it mean to design your own CNC device . . . . your own robot? Where does the line between hand craft and machine craft get drawn? How do we escape the limits imposed by commercially available software and fabrication methods? How can tooling be an avenue to design? These are some of the questions we contemplated as we designed, manufactured, and tested the Insta-llator 1 with the Variable Information Atomizing Module over the course of eight months. We designed and fabricated this computer controlled machine. It became the technological backbone of our Feathered Edge installation commissioned by curators Brooke Hodge and Alma Ruiz at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the installation was one in a series of MOCA installations addressing the convergence of digital technology and craft. The Instal_lator enabled us to digitally automate the production of the installation while making it more intricate in form and color than would have been possible using human hands as the primary mode of production. The machine eliminated the mind boggling process of cutting by hand 3604 individual lengths of string, no two alike, that formed the spatial matrix of catenaries of Feathered Edge, while allowing us to precisely airbrush each string in discreet locations based on data input from a computer. The airbrush processes yield unique three dimensional “prints” of objects within the array of strings. The results of this proprietary process suggested holographic images floating in space.
As a software and hardware system, the Instal_latoreffortlessly performs and seamlessly unifies four distinct operations – measuring, cutting, and painting string, into one continuous sequence of procedures that would be extremely time consuming and tedious (impossible) for a human to accomplish.
The Insta-llator 1 greatly expands the potential of our projects that use cordage materials. We will continue to explore this potential in an ongoing series of projects loosely entitled “Suspensions”.
Principals in Charge: Gaston Nogues , Benjamin Ball
Project Team: Andrew Lyon, Nicole Kell, Eddy Sykes, Norma Silva, Jonathan Kitchens
Custom Software and Electronics Development: Sparce Studio
