The benefits of assisted technology in the work of Marc Gibson: Viewed 22 September 2023

Gibson, Marc. 2023. Painterly Forms. Sculpture. Wild Hope: Conversations for a Planetary Commons exhibition, RMIT Design Hub Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.

Photograph by Elizabeth Cole of Marc Gibson's Painterly Forms, Overall installation. 2023.

Photograph by Elizabeth Cole of Marc Gibson's Painterly Forms, One sculpture as an example. 2023.

This post is about another body of work that interested me at the Wild Hope exhibition, seen on 22 September 2023. As his project overview explains, Marc Gibson has used technology designed to simulate aquatic flows and formations, and integrated these algorithms into his 3D printing process, as a form of symbiosis. The artist’s objective was to demonstrate the benefits of integrating human and technical endeavours, in part to mitigate public concern about artificial intelligence.

While I appreciate the innovative approach to production, I am most interested in the output, the coral and sea sponge like shapes printed in polymer resin and plastic and coated in rubber. This resonates with my interest in the coral based/sea life work of Nicholas Mangan (e.g., Core coralations and Death assemblage 2023) and Vera Moller (e.g., Verdana no. 2 2023), each the subject of earlier posts).

I have not yet explored 3D printing but can see great potential for my pattern based multiples. I note the irony that Gibson’s work uses resins and potentially petrochemical plastics, the type eliminated by French in her work. I wonder if algae based plastics can be used in 3D printing.