On Growth and Form 100
As mentioned in previous newsletters, 2017 is the centenary of the publication of D’Arcy Thompson’s ‘On Growth and Form’, the initial inspiration behind my ongoing explorations into creating structure from morphogenetic processes. As part of the celebrations I’m involved in a number of different events happening in Dundee, where D'Arcy Thompson was Professor of Natural History.
In an exhibition called ‘bubble, bulge, bleb’ I’ll be showing a number of new 3D printed sculptural works as well as the stereoscopic installation piece that I created for the Kinetica 10th anniversary exhibition. Inspired by the developmental series that are typically used to illustrate different stages of embryo development, the exhibit will include two series of ‘Constrained Forms’ maquettes, showing how an initial simple tube of cells is transformed by morphogenetic processes into the final vase like sculptures that I will be exhibiting. The exhibition opens on 21 September and runs until 25 November in the LifeSpace gallery at the University of Dundee.
There will also be an accompanying ‘outgrowth’ exhibition in the CentreSpace at Dundee Contemporary Arts, where I’ll be showing a newly formatted version of ‘Hybrid Forms’, configured as a dual screen projection. This will run at the DCA from 22 September to 28 October.
In October I’ll also be giving a talk at the ‘On Growth and Form 100’ conference. This will focus on my recent ‘Constrained Forms’ work, where I’m exploring the effects of additional biases and influences to modify the growth processes. In effect I’m modifying the environment that the forms are growing in. Examples include encouraging more growth towards the top of the structure to create natural vase like shapes, and restricting growth if overhang angles are exceeded to make the forms more fabricable as sculptures. The ‘On Growth and Form 100’ conference is running from 13-15 October at the universities of Dundee and St. Andrews.
|
