The Sculpture Data Object

The structure of an object generated through computer technology conveys a concept of fragmentation (vector or points in space) and diversification (plural condition of a digital medium). A parallel can be established between the structure of a data object and that of a text; in a similar context to that of Derrida’s (1997) deconstructionist theory,33 the data object is dismantled in its original form (Manovich, 2001).34 This extrapolation of the concept of deconstruction implies that medium specificity is now discarded through digitization. Computation and softwarization favour the merging of all forms of artistic expression.

As a consequence of technological advancements, the digital object mimics this sense of self carried by hypermodern times. From diverse perspectives—philosophical, social, artistic, and technological—the same phenomenon of division is witnessed. Thus, in reference to the theory put forward by scientist Richard Dawkins (2006) in his book

The Selfish Gene, humans appear to simulate a certain organic behaviour or patterning common to all living natural environments. This behaviour is also common to technological environments where the concept of mutability is visible and also manifested through the change of societal values. The mutability of digital mediums brings about a digital object constructed through various modes of digitization.

3.2.1 Digitization

To further investigate the phenomenon of digitization, the question of how the term medium becomes intangible, and immaterial, through digital means is asked. As enunciated by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard (1983), the “inevitable change of the nature of the medium” that the coded environment of the new digital media engenders allows multiple interpretations of the data source (p. 54). When digitized, an object is no longer perceived as a continuous form but seen as a discrete whole that can have more than one interpretation.

Figure 3.1. Polygon mesh

from salmon scan data, close- up wireframe view.

Figure 3.2. Salmon digital representation, FastSCAN post-

Through digitizing processes, the sculptural object is vectorized or represented as a series of points positioned in space and in relation to one another on an xyz axis (Figure 3.1). This computing representation of juxtaposed triangles recreates an object known as a digital object (Figure 3.2). The immaterial state of the digital object conveys the notion of mutability. The data object can mutate into various digital forms, but its immaterial nature also conveys materiality. The mutability and volatility of the digital object contain the opposing values of the material and the immaterial.

With 3D digital technology, the relation between distance and materiality is also redefined. Distance translates into a time measurement, an expanded definition of distance that considers both time and space as linked to the travel of information or computer data (Logan, 2010). A symbiosis between the digital and the material object— that it encompasses—or the relationship between information data and data objects is experienced. The change in the artists’ relationships to temporal and objectified values influences their creative process in relation to concepts and production. Traditional values carried by analogue processes shift as artists experience that both the material and the immaterial inhabit the digital object.

3.2.2 The Notion of Interactivity

The computer software interface positions artists/users within a state of participation as they experience a digital context. Artists’ relationships to the spatial environment have thus shifted to a hyperactive role where they interact with all aspects of the artwork simultaneously: precept-concept and effect. From McLuhan’s (2001) perspective, the digital medium and its technological context incite the “simulation of

consciousness.” McLuhan (2001) expressed this change in our relation to a technological context in Understanding Media:

Rapidly, we approach the final phase of the extensions of man—the technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society, much as we have already extended our senses and our nerves by the various media. (pp. 3–4)

This “technological simulation of consciousness” characterizes digital media. Through technological means, the convergence of specific mediums into a code shapes the artwork into a transmittable and interactive art form.

However, artists’ ideas are influenced by how they perceive the reality to which they belong. Physicist Robert Logan (2010) commented on this in a chapter entitled “Art as Radar and an Early Warning System”:

One of the unique aspects of the Innis-McLuhan approach is the way that the insights and methods of artists are integrated into their media studies. Not only is this a natural extension of their multidisciplinary approach (A.31), it is also a reflection of their belief in the superiority of artistic sensibility and its ability to detect currents of change before they fully impact on a society. McLuhan (1964, p. 65) was fond of quoting Wyndham Lewis, who wrote: “The artist is always engaged in writing a detailed history of the future because he is the only person aware of the nature of the present.” McLuhan believed that the artist’s insights were like radar or an early warning system, which could pick up the social and cultural problems and challenges that new technologies created. (pp. 369–370)

With digital creation, the notion of interactivity is present throughout the creative process wherein technological tooling influences the relationship between the medium and the artist. As with painting, where artists look at new optical expressions, in the field of sculpture, artists experience new temporal and spatial preoccupations. Influenced by a simulated perspectival frame of reference that triggers sculptors’ perceptions of object in

space, from a computerized spatial environment digital sculpture becomes a new simulated matter. Therefore, artists experience a conceptual stage where production strategies are also simulated. All material consumption is pure simulation and decision- making is established through digital parameters.

In conjunction with its simulated characteristic, digital technology impacts the human-machine relationship. The digital space excludes a physical context but gives access to a computer numerical control technology that modifies artists’ relationships with the fabrication process. Media art theorist Peter Lunenfeld (2000) characterized this expanded artist-medium relationship as a form of hybridization between human and machine. Digital creation not only questions the user-artwork interrelation but also transforms the “human-machine” or artist-medium relationship. As explained by Lunenfeld (2000):

The human-machine relationships characteristic of mechanization, automation, and the more interactive systems don’t have to be seen as absolutely clear-cut and mutually exclusive. Indeed interactive media could be seen as a kind of synthesis of the two earlier models of the human-machine system; they adopt from mechanized systems the constant interplay between the “worker” and the machine, sometime to the point of “hybridization.” (p. 107)

Where the previous section presented a methodological context, the following section explores the procedures guiding the research.