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| Home Factories Interview |
| Issue 1 Oct 2007 - Interviews | |
| Written by Rob Sidelong | |
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Page 1 of 2 Scott Mitchell is a Melbourne artist and designer with an interest
(amongst others) in the post-production modification (a.k.a. modding)
of objects. In 2006 he won the The Great MacMod Challenge (see www.macmod.com/content/ view/771/221/ ). In 2004 Scott started a project; an art work looking at the use of words and their context, part of the work was looking at the difference between the use of the words ‘stick’ and ‘log’ and how they are used. To do this he was going to create a series of objects (sticks, logs) which would have the same shape but would be in different scales. For the project he decided to investigate the building of a “home brew” CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine devised and built by himself that could produce the pieces that he wanted for the project. Scott Mitchell is a Melbourne artist and designer with an interest (amongst others) in the post-production modification (a.k.a. modding) of objects. In 2006 he won the The Great MacMod Challenge (see www.macmod.com/content/ view/771/221/ ). In 2004 Scott started a project; an art work looking at the use of words and their context, part of the work was looking at the difference between the use of the words ‘stick’ and ‘log’ and how they are used. To do this he was going to create a series of objects (sticks, logs) which would have the same shape but would be in different scales. For the project he decided to investigate the building of a “home brew” CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine devised and built by himself that could produce the pieces that he wanted for the project. The project was not completed but at a point in the project the making of the CNC machine took on more focus and became more interesting than the original artwork. More exploration of the possibilities and potentialities of such a machine became of more interest as did the communities that had started to grow around similar projects. These communities started to appear on the internet in 2004 and have now grown to be large hubs for innovators and DIY enthusiasts. Sidelong: These communities are interesting. How did you first encounter them and what where their attributes? SM: At the start the communities were much smaller and specifically overseas. There was a sense of the people helping each other to solve problems and that contributors to these communities could differentiate themselves in their fields by innovating. Another aspect of these communities was the competitive angle; contributors would compete against each other to produce new and innovative solutions. Initially many projects were not necessarily ‘open source’ but in some cases they have, over time, become more so. Sidelong: Similar projects that I have seen take a much more ‘engineering’ approach to these ‘home brew’ projects. The projects are about the building of the machine. What is your take on this? SM: The makers of these machines seem to be at a loss of what to turn out using their machines. They were making common things that you could buy everywhere for 10 dollars, for example. In many cases the actual machine and the building of it was seen as the focus, the RepRap project for example is to produce a machine that can produce itself. The idea that it produces anything else seems to be beside the point. Sidelong: From a design point of view, how do you view these projects? SM: At this point the machines do not produce pieces that are perfect but it is these qualities that make these machines interesting. It is these [inexact] qualities that can be explored through design; the ‘failures’ that these machines produce could create a new field in design. Sidelong: It is interesting that these projects for me sit in between engineering, design and craft and the pieces that these machines could produce would fall between design (in a technological and production sense) and craft. Where do you see these projects being located? SM: For me the outcomes of these projects would definitely fall into the realm of craft. I think it is counterproductive to try to reproduce what is on a computer screen (the CAD model) when using one of these machines. There are possibilities for experimentation [through this disconnect of the CAD model and the final outcome] that could be could be explored through design. At this stage some communities are trying to perfect the design of their machines but if this happens then something that could be explored through design could be lost. |
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