"Experimental use of Digital Media in the Field of Ceramic"
PhD. project by Flemming Tvede Hansen.
The Project was initiated 1 February 2006 and is financed by: Vestsjællands County , Guldagergaard www.ceramic.dk
Danish Museum of Art and Design www.kunstindustrimuseet.dk
Danmarks Designskole www.dkds.dk
Center for Design Research www.designforskning.dk Primary supervisor:
Per Galle, Associate professor; PhD.
Danmarks Designskole www.dkds.dk Secondary supervisor:
Katie Bunnell, Doctor
University College Falmouth www.autonomatic.org.uk The approach is practice based design research and the content emerges from the (working-)title of the thesis: " Experimental use of Digital Media in the Field of Ceramic."
Flemming Tvede Hansen has a background as a ceramic artist, educated at Danmarks Designskole 1990-1995. The project is expected to be completed 1. May 2009.
MOTIVATION
The digital media is gaining importance and influence in all disciplines within design practice. This project is concerned about the field of ceramic. This focus is motivated by my background as a ceramic artist, but I believe the project is concerned about a general issue, and the field of ceramics in this case can be seen representative for related fields such as textile and furniture design. The issue is concerned about fields, which is based on a long tradition of craftsmanship using material and craft with great importance for both the process of designing and the finished product.
My question regarding this issue is how the digital media can be integrated, resulting in an interaction between analogue techniques (and natural materials) and the digital media, so that both approaches are utilized. Or formulated in another way: Where do I find synergy between digital and analogue techniques (and materials)?
With the project, I want to contribute to examine and discuss this issue on the basis of own experiments, which can indicate possible directions and strategies.
The project is specifically about design of 3d physical objects in the ceramic material by the use of the digital media as a player in the process of shaping. By the use of the digital media, I mean the design of the 3d digital form, and the techniques for transforming 3d digital form into 3d physical form, which goes under the collective name: Rapid Prototyping (RP).
In order to focus on the potential of designing by the digital media, in an interaction with a natural material, in this case ceramics, the project focuses only on the creative phase of giving 3d form. This means that the PhD project not is concerned about marketing, general problem identifications etc., but works with the sole aim to support the designer in the process of giving 3d physical form.
PROBLEM AND METHOD
The project aims (in default) to achieve three objectives, which have to do with the theme, and a fourth, which concerns the parallel development of methodology and theory grounding:
(Aim 1) How is the digital 3d form achieved?
- To explore how the digital media can be used in the process of giving form in a way that takes advantage of the knowledge, a ceramic artist has about shape and material. By this, I am thinking of the knowledge the ceramist has about the use of material in an interaction and as a frameset in the process of giving 3d form.
It is a working hypothesis that this can be done by involving “dynamics” in existing 3d software, which offers the possibility to simulate physical processes (e.g. deformation of elastic objects, collision of more or less rigid elements, effects on liquids with different surface tensions etc.) These tools are originally developed for animation in the film industry. (Aim 2) What does the digital media add in an artistic qualitatively sense?
- To explore, how these “dynamics” can be used in the shaping process; i.e. what it can add in an artistic qualitative sense.
The working hypothesis is, that “dynamics”, if they are used in a suitable way, have a potential to support a craftsman’s work with the ceramic material to express narrative in themes like metamorphosis, relativity, transformation, states of moments etc. (Aim 3) What kind of synergy can be found in the cross-border of digital and analogue techniques?
-To explore how the 3d digital form is transformed into the ceramic material in a way that takes advantage of the techniques to contribute to the shape and textural effect.
Since the (RP) techniques for transforming the 3d digital form directly to the ceramic material not is developed in a satisfactory quality, the project explore 3d digital produced models (Rapid Prototyping) in other materials, which subsequently can be used experimental in connection with existing techniques in the field of ceramic.
It is a working hypothesis that the use of digital techniques in an interaction with analogue techniques will produce a synergy and an expression, which not could have been achieved without this interaction.
The above mentioned aims and hypotheses will be explored with concrete experiments by using ceramics, where the form has arisen through the use of digital tools. But the criterion for success is of artistic nature, and must be assessed qualitatively-aesthetic. This makes it difficult to specify a survey and a theoretical basis, showing the scientific measurable results. Hence the project has a fourth aim.
(Aim 4) With which methodology and theory grounding are the three previous aims best explored?
- To test theories of science through own case studies and generalize the experiences in a way which makes them usable for other cases of practice based research. Further the aim is to explore if practice and artefacts developed in the context of research can be characterized as unique as genre, which differ from other practice and artefacts in the field of question. (E.g. not to be design- or art- objects).
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