Postgraduate Researchers

PhD Research Student - School of Art and Design

Project Title: Time, Trace & Experience: Investigating the role of the artist’s body in digital sculpture production 

Project Abstract

The growth of digital sculpture comes on the back of recent developments in art and technology. These advances range from the creation of more powerful software and hardware systems to the nascent augmented and virtual reality sectors, and the potential for materialisation through technologies such as 3D printing, laser-cutting, or CNC machining. However, despite this progress, the examination of digital sculpture focuses predominantly on the ‘end object’, neglecting the artistic labour inherent in its creation. As revealed through indexical traces in sculpture, artistic labour encapsulates the gestures of the artist's body, actions, and subjective experience. Consequently, the inability of digital sculpture to evidence the process of its own creation - the artistic labour and production process - could result in a potential loss of the artist's gesture and subjectivity. A central concern of this thesis, therefore, is to develop a critical analysis of Process Art methods in digital sculpture, thus posing the question: To what extent can Process Art methods address the potential absence of the artist's body in digital sculpture? This research adopts a mixed methods approach, incorporating desk research and practice-based research. The practice-based research is supported by a unique methodology based on Process Art, wherein the primary function of the art object is to capture the labour process as a way to foreground the role of the artist’s body in the art-making process. The practice involves the creation of a series of digital sculptures, undertaken iteratively, with analyses and reflections informing subsequent iterations. The analysis encompasses an exploration of the experience of the making process, the digital sculptures themselves and their various materialisations. Additionally, the research examines the hardware and software systems and explores the theoretical implications of the digital aesthetic in the representation of artistic labour in digital sculpture. Through this, the research aims to develop a critical framework centred on the core concept of smoothness in digital culture, characterised by the elimination of inflexion, gesture, and trace in the production process. In evaluating digital sculpture as an artistic experience, the findings from this research highlight the value of understanding the process of production in the experience of digital artwork. 

Supervisors: Dr Glenn Loughran, Prof Noel Fitzpatrick 

Funder: TU Dublin