Ted Smith: CALM PROJECT: Creating Art with Layer Manufacture
Title:
- CALM PROJECT: Creating Art with Layer Manufacture
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Exhibiting Artist(s):
Symposium:
Venue(s):
Creation Year:
- 1997
Artist Statement:
This exhibition shows the results of the largest ever programme for artists and designers using the new technology of layer manufacture. The aim of the project was to arrange access to layer manufacture facilities for sculptors and designers working in higher education 23 institutions in the UK. The works on exhibition were selected from an application of thirty-five proposals. The selection was made by engineers, who were involved with the CALM project, according to criteria which was aimed at “the extent to which the proposed objects exploited the unique features of rapid prototyping” rather than “artistic merit” in any sense. Layer manufacture is a new engineering technique, also known as rapid prototyping, that can be used to make a real object directly from a 3D computer model. The computer model is “sliced” by special software into very thin layers, and the object is made by constructing the individual layers on a computer controlled machine. Each later is built on top of the preceding layer, and the stack of layers forms the final solid object. The CALM project was set up by Professor Ted Smith at the University of Central Lancashire, and is funded by the HEFCs through their Joint Technology Applications Program (JTAP), as part of an initiative intended to increase the use of IT by arts students. The project runs for two years, from January 1997.
