This exhibit is inspired by Nature and revolves around a building system that has a patent pending. It uses a discrete repertoire of elastic modules to form assemblies of diverse curved geometries. The component module's structure is linear in character and geometrically elemental. The diversity of this system's possible geometric structural outcomes is statistically vast. Such geometries can range from discrete to quasicrystaline. I believe this system of construction is well adapted to the use of modern carbon based composite materials and their future permutations, including smart materials. The structures created using this system could have application in terrestrial, space and aquatic environments.
Full Description
This proposal tests the boundary of scale, by building macroscopic structures based on microscopic construction principles. It has terrestrial, aquatic and space applications.
Recent advances in material and computer science technologies make it possible to create macro structures that rival the level of sophistication found in nature at the nano level. This idea is a natural macroscopic development that inversely parallels our exploration and application of nanotechnology.
The diversity of organic matter’s shape and scale has its roots in the structure of the molecules that comprise it. I plan to develop a repertoire of macroscopic carbon fiber modules with a seemingly infinite variety of structural arrangements. The modules are analogous to the organic molecules that make up the matter of life.
Like these carbon fiber modules, organic molecules are elastic structures. The elastic energy stored in atomic bonds is potential mechanical energy. This stored energy enhances the molecule's structural integrity and allows for structural changes in response to intramolecular interactions. this scenario is now made available macroscopically by the advances in carbon based building materials.
Advances in computer science are key to the efficient application of this idea, in particular software programs directed toward the physics of molecular structures. This software will apply directly to the design and behavioral modeling of modular carbon fiber macro structures.
Along with the tools made available from computer and material science is information coming from offshoot disciplines like mechanochemistry, structural biology and many others.
Nature’s imagination is superior to man’s so we should try to emulate it with our scientific tools and information.
Work metadata
- Year Created: 2015
- Submitted to ArtBase: Monday Jan 19th, 2015
- Original Url: https://vimeo.com/channels/syntheticbiostructure
-
Work Credits:
- widicus, primary creator
Take full advantage of the ArtBase by Becoming a Member
Artist Statement
Art should be more, it should strive to create the impossible. The creation of novelty through invention, discovery or idea, can be high art .
“The Visual Arts have become increasingly linked to the humanities. This trend is a mistake and that mistake has had consequences deleterious to the seriousness with which the arts are taken.” MARJORIE GARBER Director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University.
Related works
