ARRK Product Development Group Sponsors Museum of Modern Art Exhibit
Share:
SAN DIEGO, CA (March 11, 2008) - ARRK Product Development Group - a
global leader in full-line product development - recently sponsored one of Neri
Oxman's prototypes for The Museum of Modern Art's new exhibition, Design
and the Elastic Mind.
Oxman, an architect, experimental designer and Presidential Research Fellow
at MIT, was inspired by one of the first ever rapid prototyping technologies from
the 1860's known as photo sculpting, a process that generates accurate 3-D
replicas by projecting multiple prints of different angles and carving them relative
to the reference artifact. Similarly, Oxman's design, entitled "Raycounting,"
employs 2-D planes as they are informed by light to generate 3-D form.
Oxman's vision for her project was "clear" from day one - a translucent
prototype that would dramatically reflect light in specific ways. But her original
CAD design was a solid piece that would not have allowed for this transparency.
ARRK's design engineers quickly got on board with Oxman's vision, altered the
CAD design to get rid of the internal surfaces and hand-picked a resin material
to ensure the translucent look - all while preserving the original design
structure. Plus, to match the slightly "unfinished" aesthetic that Oxman was
aiming for, ARRK intentionally aligned the part in the design stage to eliminate
the need for smooth finishing processes. And once the piece was created, it
was sandblasted for a frosty, yet uniform look.
Oxman first contacted ARRK in the middle of December, and the finished
product was completed in early January, over six weeks ahead of the initial
scheduled deadline.
"We are proud of our ability to see the artist's intended vision through to a
successful completion that's now on stage for the world to see," said Sarah
Woellert, Marketing Sales Coordinator for ARRK.
Design and the Elastic Mind, which includes Neri's project, "Raycounting" will be
on display at the Museum of Modern Art from February 24 - May 12, 2008.
Created to present the latest advancements in design, Design and the Elastic
Mind displays designers' abilities to "grasp momentous changes in technology,
science and history that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human
behavior..."
About Neri Oxman
Neri Oxman is an architect and researcher whose work attempts to establish
both new forms of experimental design and novel processes of material
practice through the interface of design, computer science, structural
engineering and biology. She is founder of the interdisciplinary design initiative,
MATERIALECOLOGY (www.materialecology.com). A graduate of the
AA School of Architecture in London, Oxman is currently based at MIT as a
Presidential Research Fellow and PhD candidate in Design and Computation,
and is associated with the Smart Cities Group at the Media Lab and the
Design Lab.
About The Museum of Modern Art
Founded in 1929 as an educational institution, The Museum of Modern Art is
dedicated to being the foremost museum of modern art in the world. Through
the leadership of its trustees and staff, The Museum of Modern Art manifests
this commitment by establishing, preserving, and documenting a permanent
collection of the highest order that reflects the vitality, complexity, and unfolding
patterns of modern and contemporary art; by presenting exhibitions and
educational programs of unparalleled significance; by sustaining a library,
archives, and conservation laboratory that are recognized as international
centers of research; and by supporting scholarship and publications of
preeminent intellectual merit.
