Exhibition visit - ‘Out of Hand: Materialising the Digital’

On my recent visit to Australia, I visited a wonderful exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in New South Wales called ‘Out of Hand: Materialising the Digital’. It explores the increasingly important role of digital manufacture in contemporary art, science, fashion, design and architecture.

The exhibition features works by more than 60 artists, designers and architects from around the world including tables created by my partner Gareth Neal. The exhibition looks at the impact of digital technology in the design and production of objects, recognising that many techniques have emerged from past ideas and are now defining new possibilities, understandings and expectations.

Some of my highlights from the show:

Roxy Paine (above, top) created a sculpture-making machine to produce objects that are subject only to natural forces and the inherent properties of the material he uses. Unfold and Tim Knapen (above, bottom) created software that allows the user to create digital ceramic forms on a virtual potter’s wheel which can then be materialised by a ceramic £-D printer.

Geoffrey Mann (above left) captures the data from a laser beam scanned against a reflective, metallic object. The intensity of the reflection creates spikes around the object which he 3-D prints and casts into a new metallic object. Aki Inomata (above right) created digitally fabricated ‘shelters’ for hermit crabs. These ‘shelters’ represent cities from around the world, if the hermit crabs liked them, they moved in!

Sandra Backlund (above, top), known for her handmade, haute couture knitwear, collaborated with a knitwear company to develop machine-made, highly detailed samples that captured the handmade quality for which Backlund is well known. Continuum Fashion (above, bottom) created these wearable, futuristic shoes from 3-D printed nylon.

Gareth Neal (above) creates digitally designed, hand crafted furniture from traditional materials that display the ghost of its past. The table’s design is subtle, only in certain lights and at various angles is the idea evident.

For more information on the exhibition visit their website here