MX3D technology used for Entanglement sculpture in New York college
December 2, 2022
MX3D, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has announced the installation of ‘Entanglement,’ its first permanent work of art in a college building in Skidmore College, New York, USA. Together with artist Alyson Shotz, MX3D additively manufactured the 340 kg sculpture which now hangs in the atrium of Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences (BTCIS).
MX3D has used its robotic Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), a wire-based Directed Energy Deposition (DED) process, to manufacture a wide range of art installations, including the Whale Pass, Dragon Bench, Tresse Tower and more.
“Shotz saw multiple benefits in using this new process. It allowed her to design an open structure with precision curves that could be made much quicker and for less money than traditional welded steel processes,” René Backx, COO, MX3D, posted on LinkedIn. “It was a zero-waste process that required almost no packing materials. It also let her expand her artistic practice, allowing her to create new structures that were impossible to make before this technology existed, while at the same time making connections with previous work.”
Alyson Shotz explained, “Entanglement explores the idea that a shape can be defined by space rather than mass. There is much more space in this sculpture than steel. It also asks, How does perception define the experience of space? If you look at this sculpture from only one point of view, it might be difficult to understand, you have to move around it to experience it fully. As your point of view changes and the light changes, the shape itself changes. These concerns flow through all of my work. ”
“Skidmore gave me a chance to make something new, experiment with new technology together with MX3D, and broaden my practice as an artist,” she concluded. “It’s a huge opportunity, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
Interested in learning more about Additive Manufacturing’s place in the arts? Check out the deep dive published by Elizabeth Henry, principal and founder of Henry General Strategies, in Volume 8 No 3, Autumn 2022, Metal Additive Manufacturing.
Read “The power of Additive Manufacturing in the hands of artists: Public works to small batch production” it online or download it as a pdf.
