Beyond the Buzz: New Forms, Realities, and Environments in Digital Fabrication

While digital technologies have a relatively short history as artistic media compared to traditional art-making materials, over the past fifteen years the field has exploded. This exhibition showcases how digital fabrication methods have changed the means and forms of art production. It includes notable works from a cross-section of artists and practices, from those who primarily employ digital modeling and construction methods in their work to artists who have adopted digital fabrication as one of many tools available to them.

All of the artwork included in Beyond the Buzz was made initially with a computer-aided 3D design or modeling (CAD/CAM) program. But the ultimate output of those digital files is remarkably varied and flexible. Materially, formally, and conceptually, digitally fabricated works of art are pushing the boundaries of what is possible. And the end results are unknown. These imaginative objects and images vacillate between the natural and the mechanical, the grotesque and the sublime, the humorous and the elegant, and the miniscule and the enormous. The artists employing these tools and materials are continuing to do what art has done from the beginning—expressing just what it means to be human.

MCAD has been invested in exploring digital technologies since the 1970s. We included 3D modeling in the earliest iterations of our first computer courses and introduced 3D fabrication to the college in 2000. Since then MCAD has built a Digital Fabrication Lab that currently includes Dimension and Zcorp printers, a Universal Laser cutter, a Techno 3D Router, and Next Engine and Sense 3D Laser Scanners housed in our 10,000-square-foot 3D area studios and shop. Our Digital Fabrication Lab is utilized by students in most fields at the college with specific course content in sculpture, furniture, installation, printmaking, and even 3D foundations.

This exhibition features more than twenty artists, ranging from the local to the international. They include: Luke Aleckson, Dave Beck, David Bowen, Keith Brown, Michael DeLucia, Richard Dupont, Richard Elaver, Sharon Engelstein, Joshua Harker, Shane Hope, Jon Isherwood, Brad Jirka, Helena Lukasova, Christopher Manzione, Don Myhre, Mary Bates Neubauer, John Newman, Michael Rees, Robert Michael Smith, Do Ho Suh, Dan Tesene, Elona Van Gent, Andrew Vomhof, Andrew Werby, and Corinne Whitaker.