User:Emielgilijamse

Digital Craft: Practice Q9 "How to be human"

"On the body"

Project 1: Exploring bespoke technologies as remediation, adaptions or extensions of the human body

Introduction

'What I wanted to achieve was to find a relevant example of a traditional technique using a modeling methode as used in modeling software.'

At this point I am especially interested in the "craft" in "digital craft'. I decided to interpret the human body as a toolkit. Focusing on the finger, which is giving us the ability to create forms and shape objects in traditional crafts. Looking back in history, the hand and its finger were one of the first and most essential tools used by man to shape and form. Especially looking at ceramics and sculptures, in which our hands and fingers are still essential. But in our digital age we've defined different ways of creating, inspired by our manual methods, but different in possibilties and approach.

Where the traditional ways of shaping materials like clay, direct contact with the material is inevitable, the modern modeling process takes place in a digital enviroment. Software like Meshmixer and Sculptris gives you the possibilty to pull and push an unlimited amount of mass, giving you endless possibilties, which are practically impossible using the traditional ways of shaping by hand. I wanted to design and create an extension of the human finger. Combining traditional ways of shaping, inspired by the modern approach of modeling as seen in free-form modeling software.

Merging the crafts.

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Research

Using technology to alter human capabilties.

After reading the article 'How Humans Are Shaping Our Own Evolution' (by D.T. Max, National Geography, issue april 2017), I became acquianted with the existence of Neil Harbisson. He's is known as one of the most famous living human cyborgs of our time. He has a rare condition called achromatopsia; he cannot perceive color. Together with science he now is using a device attached to the back of his head. Not by sight but through vibrations on the back of his skull he can indentify colors. Using technology not only gave him the abilty to indentify his surroundings, he gained an extra sence in a way normal human beings can not. He is able to do something others can not, because of technology.

Neil Harbisson

This example of Neil Harbisson is an interesting way of showing the value of using technology to extent our possibilities. To add devices to our body making us do things we could not do before. The focus for this project will be on extending the human ability to shape form using the finger as a tool.

The way Harbisson is helped by technology is a rather extreme example. We can use technology, low- or hightech, to increase our capabilities. I want to design and make a device which can be added and removed from the human body. The device will only serve one single purpose. Focussing on the human finger as a tool, I will use simple technology to change the way of using it. Can I mimic the way of shaping in a digital enviroment, to make a combination between a new way of shaping with a traditional craft?

To find a way to make the project physical, I needed relevant examples. Inspired by the methode designer Jolan van der Wiel is using to shape his collection "Gravity"-stools, I decided to try this technique myself.

Jolan van der Wiel's Gravitystool

Getting my hands on a magnet was not really the challenge. Finding the right material to shape it with one, took some effort.

I started with metal sawdust and woodglue as binder. The first results were promising but I was unable to keep the shape after removing the magnet. I needed a more firm base material, like clay to get a better result. I found a non-drying subsitute of clay, plasticine, which I found interesting to work with. Because of it's characteristics, chalk and petroleum, I could create a firm base and have the ability to change its'density using pertoleum based fluids (lampoil). The more dense variant could be moulded in a basic form to shape, the more fluid one could be pulled up from a flat surface.

I was hoping I would be able to shape more freely with the substance I have had created. Pull and shape the material in a new way. Although searching for more form freedom, it turned out to be very limited. it did not matter what the density of the substance was, the maximum amound of material that could be pulled out, was around 10 mm. Not enough for what I had in mind.

Changing the function of the substance and tool seemed inevitable.

During the proces of making my magnetic substance I noticed an interesting feature. While washing my hands, the petroleum and water repelled each other. Combining this fact with the ability to vertically pull a small amound of material, seemed interesting.