Cut, Scan, Mill, Print, Render, Tweak, Shuffle, Repeat

digital render of a 3d sculpture resembling a rock cut in half

Cut, Scan, Mill, Print,
Render, Tweak, Shuffle, Repeat

At the Studios for Art & Design Research (SADR), students learn how to make the digital physical, and vice-versa. Digital fabrication equipment such as laser cutters, CNC routers and 3D printers transform vector graphics and 3D models into tactile objects—while 3D scanners perform the opposite.

Cut, Scan, Mill, Print, Render, Tweak, Shuffle, Repeat is an exploration of these digital and analog technologies, featuring work by SADR staff that reconciles these two increasingly intermingled worlds. Analog artworks are digitized; digital works are physicalized. These artworks are re-digitized or re-physicalized ad infinitum—each time being improved, edited or otherwise transformed. At which point is the work finished? The opportunity for manipulation is endless.

Cut, Scan, Mill, Print, Render, Tweak, Shuffle, Repeat is presented in partnership with Urban Arts Space's Hybrid Arts Lab, a multi-venue learning lab that experiments with how art is imagined, made, viewed and understood.

Artists

Nathan Gorgen
Instructional Lab Manager, Studios for Art & Design Research

Andrew Frueh
Instructional Lab Supervisor, Studios for Art & Design Research

Molly Jo Burke
Graduate Fellow, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

Nathan Gorgen, Molly Jo Burke, and Andrew Frueh

Revolve Wave
Digital Illustration
2021

This piece was assembled and colored by Nathan using 3d models he derived from “the claw,” a 2 dimensional form created by Andrew when he simplified the surface texture of a 3d scan taken from a sculpture by Molly and Nathan. The background is derived from a photograph taken by Molly with a flat-bed scanner, of 3d printed sculptures created by Andrew again based off of “the claw.”