Acts of Materiality

Abstract

This paper examines parallels in the constructs of materiality within haptic and generative 3D modelling systems developed by the researcher, and 1960s conceptual art practices. It explores how in both virtual and physical practices materiality is realised though a shared agency between artist and media.

Building on Leonardi’s work that distinguishes materiality from the corporal substance of material objects (Leonardi, 2010), the paper speculates on the role of process-driven and performative methods in which materials co-determine the form of the work (Lippard, 1997) and through which the body assumes a central role in materiality.

The argument is developed through analysis of two recent works – Øform and iForm, both of which use the body as a generative agent in constructing virtual forms. Although in these two works the body assumes different spatial function in relation to the forms generated, in both cases the body is seen as “overreaching itself” (Mearleau-Ponty, 1962) as it enters into inter-subjective partnerships with the digital.
Øform is a haptic modelling system that uses Microsoft Kinect to track the spatial coordinates of the artist’s hands in order to generate 3D forms within CAD software. The algorithmic analysis of gestures disassociates the virtual form from the spatiality of the artist body. In doing so the artist is forced to defer his actions to the virtual content. Action becomes dissociated from outcome as anatomical norms of spatial organisation are redefined by the algorithmic system.

In contrast iForm draws on the GPS data of multiple iPhone participants distributed across a landscape to produces virtual 3D forms. Each GPS participant generates a point in space based not on their longitudinal and latitudinal position but on proximity to other participants. These points are compiled into a three-dimensional model on the server in real-time. As participants track each other’s location on their iPhone they are estranged from their physical location as they project into the collective virtual from.

The construct of materiality through dynamic material and spatial interactions between human and nonhuman agents analysed in these two works is compared to early performative works by Robert Morris (Site, 1964) and the participatory Happenings of Allan Kaprow. Both Morris and Kaprow are shown to treat the body as a material object that draws us into inter-subjective relations. The comparison shows how as artists of both generations probe new modes of production the body assumes a central role through which new modes of materiality are engaged and understood. The paper suggests that such an understanding of materiality is essential to developing a digital craft capable of engaging the digital as a material in its own right.