Everybody says 3D printing is the future, however 3D model exchanging websites such as ‘Thingiverse’ and ‘Shapeways’ have been censoring copyright protected models and illegal artefacts and files (remember Cody Wilson’s gun).
Exhibition
Date: 15 – 18 May
Location: A-Lab
Time: 12.00 – 19.00 hrs
Matthew Plummer-Fernandez has found a brilliant way to work his way around these websites in order to exchange his models. He created the free software application ‘Disarming Corrupter’ that runs an algorithm, which is used to corrupt STL files into a visually-illegible state. It glitches and rotates the 3D mesh and allows a recipient to reverse the effect to restore it back to its original form. During the exhibition the application software will be presented, as well as the corrupted 3D sculptures that result from the process.
Biography
British artist and researcher Matthew Plummer-Fernandez critically and playfully examines sociocultural entanglements with technologies. Inspired by encryption rotomachines such as the infamous Enigma Machine, he created Disarming Corruptor, which was awarded a Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction. He holds a BEng in Computer Aided Mechanical Engineering from Kings College London and an MA in Design Products from the Royal College of Art.