John J. Marshall

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

The Robert Gordon University

October, 2007

Keywords

ART, DESIGN, DIGITAL, HYBRID, TECHNOLOGY, TRANSDISCIPLINARY

Abstract

The researcher’s previous experience suggested that the use of computer-based design and fabrication tools might enable new models of practice that yield a greater integration between the 3D art and design disciplines.  A critical, contextual review was conducted to assess what kinds of objects are being produced by art and design practitioners; what the significant characteristics of these objects might be; and what technological, theoretical and contextual frameworks support their making.  A survey of international practitioners was undertaken to establish how practitioners use these tools and engage with other art and design disciplines.  From these a formalised system of analysis was developed to derive evaluative criteria for these objects.

The researcher developed a curatorial framework for a public exhibition and symposium that explored the direction that art and design practitioners are taking in relation to computer-based tools.  These events allowed the researcher to survey existing works, explore future trends, gather audience and peer responses and engage the broader community of interest around the field of enquiry.  Interviews were conducted with practitioners whose work was included in this exhibition and project stakeholders to reveal patterns and themes relevant to the theoretical framework of this study.

A model of the phases that practitioners go through when integrating computer-based tools into their practice was derived from an existing technology adoption model.  Also, a contemporary version of R. Krauss’s ‘Klein Group’ was developed that takes into consideration developments in the field from the use of digital technologies.  This was used to model the context within which the researcher’s practice is located.  The research identifies a form of ‘technology-led-practice’ and an increased capacity for a ‘transdisciplinary discourse’ at the intersection of disciplinary domains.  This study will be of interest to practitioners from across the 3D art and design disciplines that use computer-based tools.

The rationale for the study emerged from the researcher’s professional practice.  This practice has involved the use of various computer-based tools within a range of contexts.  This previous experience suggested the current research proposition that the use of these technologies might enable new models of practice that yield a greater integration between the 3D art and design disciplines.  The aim of the study is to establish a clearer understanding of the use of computer-based tools in object-making within art and design practice.  The focus of the research is to explore and evaluate work happening across traditional disciplines through the use of common digital technologies and determine if the work being produced in this manner signifies a trend towards a new hybrid model of 3D art and design practice.

This research is important at this time because the art and design disciplines are experiencing discontinuities with previous models of academic and professional practice arising out of increasing globalisation and the spread of new information-based economic paradigms.  Computer-based tools are implicated as both cause of and potential solution to these issues.  These changes are themselves responses to greater changes taking place on a worldwide scale. The transition to an information-based economy offers opportunities for art and design practitioners to develop new production paradigms, design vocabularies and methodologies.  However, research and teaching in universities will also need to embrace this development to stay competitive.  The Cox Review of Creativity in Business (Cox, 2005, p.33) recommends that multidisciplinary postgraduate programmes in creativity, technology and business be created within certain universities as centres of excellence.  In his 2006 RSA lecture Stephen Heppell (Heppell, 2006) indicates that education needs to be ‘project-based’ rather than ‘discipline-based’.  However, since universities are structured around disciplines - there are obvious disadvantages for cross-disciplinary research and teaching (Russell, 2000).  For these types of programmes to survive within the disciplinary structure of the university support for boundary-crossing research such as the current study will have to increase. 

Since the mid 1990s computer-based technologies have become increasingly affordable to and useable by a mass population (in the industrialised world).  This has resulted in a kind of democratisation of digital technologies and the associated production processes more commonly associated with industrial production (Von Hippel, 2005, p.13).  In recent years the use of digital technologies in art and design disciplines has also increased dramatically.  Until now the discourse surrounding this development has primarily focused on the benefits this has brought for productivity and has only very recently touched upon the possibilities that visual computing bring to the way in which we work (e.g. Callicott, 2001; Lynn & Rashid, 2002; Atkinson, 2003; Hensel, Menges & Weinstock, 2004; and Gershenfeld, 2005).  Artists, designers, engineers, architects and craftspeople are now using a common digital toolset (Callicott, 2001, p.64).  As production methods become more accessible, new creative possibilities arise that would not have been possible formerly.  The present study provides an opportunity to explore and evaluate what new types of computer-aided designed and manufactured objects are being created by art and design practitioners.

This research project provided an opportunity to critically examine and map this area of enquiry.  It is anticipated that an increased understanding of this mode of practice will deliver insights into and an appreciation for hybrid art and design practices.  This study will benefit art and design practitioners by exploring and documenting the use of digital technologies by diverse contemporary practitioners from 3D art and design disciplines.

The specific research questions addressed are:

• Are there new kinds of objects being produced by art and design practitioners using computer-based tools?

• What are the significant characteristics of these objects and are there specific criteria which can be used to identify these new kinds of objects?

• Is there a trend towards a hybrid model of art and design practice emerging out of the use of computer-based tools and if so, what implications this might have for future practice?

This research makes a significant contribution to new knowledge through the development of analytical and evaluative criteria, models and critical language for computer-designed and/or fabricated objects.  Further contributions are made by mapping the current usage of computer-based technologies in art and design through case studies, surveys and interviews of contemporary practitioners.  The research explores new methods of working and new production ontology’s and cultural contexts for computer-designed and/or fabricated objects by evaluating a body of work that exploits computer-based technologies.  The research aims to benefit both the wider community of art and design practitioners using computer-based tools and the professional practice of the researcher.