Space as Time.

A Study in Improvisational Interactive Computational Sculpting

Abstract

This paper reviews some of my work in experience-based computational sculpture, using a technique which I call Interactive 3D Printing, an amalgamation of generative art, livecoding, and sculpture. I3DP draws on a rich history of iterative revision and aesthetic refinement in the computational arts. This work foregrounds the time-based experience of digitally fabricating objects by describing them using only terms for time and rhythm (beats, beats-per-minute, duration, musical notes) following Paul Klee’s observation that “space itself is a temporal concept”. It explores the liminal state between finished/unfinished objects inside a manufacturing process by incorporating the sound of the manufacturing process into the experience of its products. I discuss how this work can be understood as both an improvised livecoding performance and a work of generative art where each iteration (or “instantiation”) has the potential to self-actualise and change over time according to the intrinsic nature of both computational and improvisational works of art.