Thinking Factories
It wasn´t before the dawn of what now is referred to as the era of post-Fordist production that we have been able to grasp the full-blown potential of the Marxian notion of general intellect. As increasingly interconnected individuals sift through ever growing amounts of data online, we are currently witnessing the redefinition of the virtual in terms of its epistemological implications for our perception and re-construction of ‘reality’. The remarkable proliferation of so-called rapid prototyping technologies in recent years offers a striking example for the evolution of communities ready to share their knowledge and necessary means of production.
Hitherto predominantly used in the field of architecture and product design the faculty members of the Department of Digital Art at the University of Applied Arts Vienna decided to investigate the potential use of rapid prototyping technologies for contemporary artistic practice. Initiated by its director, the media artist Ruth Schnell this project aims at fostering experimental and critical enquiry of emergent formats of object-conception by means of 3D print. Through creative, critical and playful experimentation with existing three-dimensional data or the creation of entirely new models, the results mirror what occasionally has been called the emergence of a culture of hybrid artefacts, a phenomenon which has long since taken possession of DIY and Makers’ communities around the world, many of which enter into exchange online in order to share their data, knowledge and infrastructure.
The fundamental proposition of the project is to recuperate the factory model as an open space for the potential emergence of collective intelligence in a system of human and non-human agents by using democratised means of production for the transient solidification of data. This includes a theoretical inquiry into sources and potential use of data for the process of digital fabrication, the dynamic between individual and collective modes of artistic creation, the actual print of physical objects, their potential alteration, and re-entry into the cycle of production.
Artists:
Denizhan and Wolfgang Fiel, Katharina Gsöllpointner, Margarete Jahrmann, Nicolaj Kirisits, Peter Koger, Bernd Kräftner, Martin Kusch, Jan Lauth, Max Moswitzer, Niki Passath, Tom Schneider, Ruth Schnell, Roland Schöny, Franz Schubert, Romana Schuler, Rini Tandon, Peter Weibel, Stefanie Wuschitz
