Abstract
This chapter extends the creative potential of three dimensional (3D) and four dimensional (4D) printing in order to highlight a posthuman focus that promotes the experimental qualities of visual art within arts-based research (ABR). Given that the social and environmental stakes are high due to the proliferation of 3D and 4D digital fabrication now and in the near future, I ask how this technology can be explored with an awareness of the continuing evolution of posthumanist literature that questions our relationships with the world. I share 3D experiments and 4D speculative cases as posthumanist art perspectives on theory and practice.
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Notes
- 1.
4D printing incorporates the element of time as the fourth dimension. This addition typically presents itself as a change in the materials over a particular duration, often with the materials reverting back to their original configurations once the stimulus has been removed. For more information on 4D printing, refer to https://www.ted.com/talks/skylar_tibbits_the_emergence_of_4d_printing?language=en.
- 2.
For more information on the research at MIT under the guidance of S. Tibbits please refer to http://www.selfassemblylab.net/. Also out of MIT is artist Neri Oxman who approaches digital fabrication in other directions. See https://www.media.mit.edu/people/neri.
- 3.
Numerous uses of this term involving the conflation of consumer and producer have evolved with the DIY (do-it-yourself maker movements). For example, see Oxford dictionary online at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/prosumer.
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Pente, P.V. (2018). Posthumanism and Arts-Based Educational Research Exploration in 3D and 4D Digital Fabrication. In: Knight, L., Lasczik Cutcher, A. (eds) Arts-Research-Education. Studies in Arts-Based Educational Research, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61560-8_8
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