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IRIS VAN HERPEN: BIOMORPHISM - VISUALIZING THE INVISIBLE
Iris Van Herpen's work is a profound inspiration for me, especially during Digital Bodies week, where the integration of technology and the human form takes center stage. Her collaboration with Swarovski in Vienna, particularly her "Biomorphism installation" project, perfectly encapsulates this fusion. Van Herpen created a striking crystal-encrusted 3D-printed headpiece, modeled after the contours of the human face using 3D scanning technology.
The use of 3D scanning in this project allowed Van Herpen to capture the nuances of the human face with extraordinary precision, translating the contours into a form that merges art, fashion, and technology. For me, this application of technology offers a perfect example of how digital fabrication techniques can redefine our understanding of the human body, emphasizing transformation rather than replication. Her work, particularly with these digital renderings of the body, challenges the traditional limitations of design, making it a profound source of inspiration as I explore how we can use similar methods to merge the body with cutting-edge fabrication processes during Digital Bodies week.
RICHARD DUPONT: DISTORTING THE BODY
Richard Dupont’s sculptures take the human form and push it to its breaking point, creating distorted figures that challenge our perception of the body. Using 3D scanning technology, Dupont often begins with his own body as the subject, capturing its exact dimensions before manipulating the data to stretch, warp, and deform the final sculpture. His self-scanned works are not mere representations of the human figure but rather a reimagining of identity and physicality, as if the body is in flux, constantly shifting. The exaggerated limbs and twisted torsos seem frozen in a state of transformation, revealing the tension between the organic and the digital.
What makes Dupont’s sculptures especially intriguing is this interplay between hyper-accurate digital scans and the resulting distorted physical forms. His use of materials like fiberglass, rubber, and bronze further amplifies the sense of distortion, making the sculptures feel like they’re caught in a suspended, almost alien state.
YERVAND KOCHAR: PAINTING IN SPACE
Yervand Kochar, a pioneering Armenian artist, broke traditional boundaries with his revolutionary approach to sculpture and painting. Known for his dynamic and non-standard works, Kochar’s art embodies a powerful fusion of painting, sculpture, and movement. His concept of Painting in Space (Les Peintures dans l’espace), developed in the 1930s while living in Paris, transformed the static nature of art into something fluid and ever-changing. Unlike traditional sculptures, his works integrate metal panels that are painted and set in motion with the help of an engine. As the panels slowly rotate, viewers experience a unique synthesis of space and time, where separate visual elements merge, revealing a constantly evolving form. Kochar’s sculptures challenge conventional forms, as his innovative use of motion invites viewers to perceive art not as a frozen moment, but as something dynamic and transformative.
Kochar’s innovative approach is exemplified in his 1934 work "Les Peintures dans l’espace," which has been on permanent display at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris since 1963.
For Digital Bodies, his exploration of movement and spatial manipulation parallels how technologies like 3D scanning and modeling allow us to break down and reassemble human forms in new, dynamic ways.
MISHA LIBERTEE: SLONIK - THE TRAVELER
Misha Libertee, also known as Michael Tsaturyan, is an innovative artist who blends large-scale urban sculptures with important social messages. One of his most notable works is Slonik, a 23-meter-tall inflatable elephant created for the 2019 Burning Man Festival. This colossal green elephant was designed to raise awareness about the abuse and extinction of elephants in Africa and Asia, where they are often subjected to cruelty for tourism purposes. Through Slonik, Misha highlighted the environmental and ethical issues surrounding wildlife exploitation, creating a visual protest that resonated across the desert. His use of 3D modeling allowed for precise design and planning, ensuring Slonik could be realized in both the physical and virtual worlds, bringing attention to the cause in new, dynamic ways.
After its debut in the Nevada desert, Slonik took on new forms, both in the Metaverse and physically in Armenia. At Fab Lab Armenia, we brought Slonik to life again by transforming Misha’s digital model into a 2.44-meter wooden sculpture. Our team used FreeCAD to slice the 3D model into 154 precise parts, then milled them using a CNC machine to construct the wooden figure. Now residing in Dilijan, this reincarnated Slonik continues to inspire, symbolizing not only the importance of protecting nature but also the fusion of art, technology, and creativity.
ANTONY GORMLEY: THE BODY IN & AS SPACE
Antony Gormley has become my biggest discovery this week, especially following the insightful lecture by Anastasia Pistofidou. Gormley’s approach to the human body profoundly challenges conventional perceptions, as he proposes that the body should not be seen merely as an object or abject but rather as a significant space filled with potential and meaning. His sculptures, often cast from his own body, invite viewers to reflect on their physicality and existence within a larger context. By emphasizing the body as a "place," Gormley encourages a deeper exploration of the relationship between the self and the environment, prompting thought-provoking questions about identity, memory, and the human experience.
Antony Gormley's lecture, titled "Antony Gormley: The Body in & as Space," delves into his exploration of the human figure as a site of memory and transformation.
"I want to think about the body as a subjective condition, but also the universal condition of human exictance" A. GORMLEY
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My project revisits a long-held belief that has gained depth and urgency since I became a parent. The human body is not merely a separate existence; it serves as a home for another being, as well as a host to countless bacteria, microbes, and other organisms that significantly influence our well-being, often manipulating our physical and emotional states in ways we may not fully recognize. This perspective shifts the narrative from viewing our bodies as isolated vessels to recognizing them as complex ecosystems. Just as Antony Gormley’s work explores the body as a space for memory and transformation, I aim to delve into the idea that our bodies are vibrant environments rich with life and connection.
Through this project, I seek to challenge the common perception of our bodies as mere objects for exploitation and consumption. Instead, I want to illustrate that we are both a food source and a storage unit for physical and emotional experiences. By embracing this interconnectedness, we can develop a more holistic understanding of ourselves—not just as individuals but as part of a larger web of life.
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This project investigates the intersection of art, biology, and technology. The first part of the experience involves creating a 3D-printed head using transparent PLA filament, designed to print with a low infill of just 5%. At the core of this sculpture lies a blob of Physarum polycephalum, a remarkable slime mold known for its unique properties and behavior. This particular blob was collected from the forests of Dilijan five years ago and has been in a dormant state since then. Over time, it will spread throughout the hollow structure of the head, symbolizing the dynamic relationship between our bodies and the myriad microorganisms that inhabit them. The transparent material allows viewers to observe the growth process, creating an engaging visual narrative about life, growth, and transformation.
Physarum polycephalum, commonly referred to as a blob, showcases incredible resilience and adaptability. Found in the forests of Dilijan, this slime mold can enter a dormant state, surviving for years without food or moisture. After being rehydrated and provided with nutrients, it can revive, illustrating the concept of rebirth and the persistence of life. As the blob grows within the head, it serves as a metaphor for the interconnectedness of life forms and the layers of existence within our bodies. This project aims to provoke thought about our role not only as consumers and exploiters of resources but also as intricate ecosystems ourselves, hosting a myriad of organisms that influence our physical and emotional states.
The blob is fascinating for its ability to exhibit behaviors typically associated with intelligence, despite lacking a central nervous system. It can navigate complex environments, find food, and avoid danger using a decentralized network of protoplasmic streaming. This slime mold can even solve mazes and optimize paths to food sources, demonstrating a form of biological intelligence that challenges our understanding of cognition and awareness in living systems. This project explores these ideas, encouraging viewers to reconsider their perceptions of consciousness and life.
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The slime mold Physarum polycephalum creates complex, efficient networks that solve transportation and connectivity problems, resembling natural systems like train and road networks. When faced with multiple food sources, P. polycephalum connects them by forming a network akin to solutions for the Steiner tree problem, balancing energy conservation and efficiency. These networks have been compared to human-engineered systems, such as the rail network around Tokyo, demonstrating similar levels of cost-effectiveness, fault tolerance, and connectivity. Despite lacking a nervous system, this slime mold's behavior exhibits signs of problem-solving and memory, which has led to significant interest in its potential for bio-computing. Researchers continue to study its network-building strategies, exploring its use in biological computing systems capable of logic operations.
My second idea, inspired by Anastasia Pistofidou's approach, is to slice a 3D model of a head and cut the layers from clear acrylic. The layers would then be engraved with the paths created by slime molds. This would create an artistic way to show how these organisms move and solve problems. In the future, during BioFabrication week, it could lead to an exciting experiment where I try to guide the slime molds' behavior, exploring how this natural intelligence could be used in creative designs.
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The soft MakeHuman was a real discovery for me - it offered an intuitive and customizable way to model the human body in digital form. What impressed me most was the ability to adjust body types, features, and poses so precisely, making it an ideal tool for creating realistic or stylized human models tailored to specific design needs.
In the context of Digital Body week in Fabricademy, it opens up exciting possibilities: generating custom mannequins for garment prototyping, exporting posed figures for 3D printing, or slicing models for laser-cut assembly. It bridges anatomy, digital design, and fabrication in a way that's both accessible and highly adaptable.
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I started by designing a human figure in MakeHuman, adjusting the proportions and details until I had a head shape that suited my idea. One specific detail I modified was the eyeballs—I made them empty, imagining them as small hollow cavities that could later interact with light or biological material. This gave the model a slightly surreal yet intentional aesthetic, aligning with the experimental nature of the week.
Once the model was ready, I exported it from MakeHuman as an OBJ file and brought it into Blender for further editing.
There, I focused on isolating the head. Using the Boolean modifier, I cleanly cut off the head section from the rest of the body, ensuring the geometry remained printable. After that, I exported the head as an STL file to prepare it for 3D printing.
To finalize the print settings, I used Cura as my slicer software. My main goal was to print only the inner structure of the head, so I disabled the outer shell by turning off the walls, top, and bottom layers. This allowed the printer to generate only the infill pattern. I chose the gyroid infill because of its organic, fluid structure—it resembles internal biological forms and gives a visually interesting result when printed with transparent material.
For the material, I selected transparent PLA filament, which added an ethereal quality to the print and made the inner gyroid pattern visible. I enabled supports to ensure that the more delicate and overhanging parts of the geometry would print properly. The final result was a hollow head with an intricate, floating internal structure—almost like a shell holding a delicate invisible brain.
My long-term idea is to grow a blob or some kind of organic mass inside this transparent infill structure. This could be biological, sculptural, or experimental, but the printed shell acts like a vessel or incubator. It’s a fusion of digital design, fabrication, and a curiosity for how the body can be reimagined—both visually and conceptually.
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To discover other opportunities for this week’s exploration of the digital body, I considered the idea of creating a model of a LEGO toy. The idea of constructing a human-like figure using modular, recognizable parts felt like a playful and symbolic way to reimagine the body. I chose Tinkercad for this project - a free, open-source, browser-based design tool that’s surprisingly powerful despite its simplicity. It’s perfect for quick modeling and assembling, especially for basic geometric forms like those used in LEGO.
I started by creating the LEGO head using a cylinder, adjusting its diameter and height to match the proportions of a standard LEGO figure. For the iconic stud on top, I added a smaller cylinder and grouped it with the head. A useful trick in Tinkercad is using the "Align" tool to perfectly center shapes before grouping them—this helped me keep everything symmetrical and clean. I also lowered the resolution of the edges slightly to give it a more LEGO-like appearance rather than a perfectly smooth surface.
For the body and limbs, I used a combination of boxes and cylinders, carefully adjusting the sizes to ensure they could be assembled proportionally. I hollowed out sections using the “Hole” function—a key feature in Tinkercad that allows you to subtract shapes. For example, I created a cylindrical hole under the head and corresponding studs on top of the torso, so the pieces could fit together virtually. I used chamfered edges for the arms to give them a more rounded, toy-like feel and duplicated parts to keep consistency across both sides.
After modeling each piece, I grouped and arranged them to form the complete figure, making sure everything was properly aligned and printable if needed. By keeping wall thicknesses consistent and checking for overlaps or gaps, I ensured that the model would behave well in slicing software later.
This simple LEGO toy became a fun, modular take on the digital body theme—showing how even basic tools and shapes can offer a fresh perspective on anatomy and assembly.
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After completing the LEGO model in Tinkercad, I exported the design as an STL file, which is a standard format for 3D printing. Tinkercad makes this step easy—just one click and the file is ready to download. I then moved the STL into Slicer for Fusion 360, a powerful tool for generating advanced slicing strategies, especially useful for preparing models for fabrication in laser cutting or CNC, as well as 3D printing. This software allows for more complex control over slicing and material settings compared to basic slicers.
In Slicer for Fusion, I imported the model and began by selecting the fabrication technique. While it’s often used for stacked and interlocked slices, it also works well for visualizing and testing structural properties. One of the first steps is to set up the sheet size and material thickness. Since the LEGO figure wasn’t meant to be laser cut in this case, I used the software more as a tool to explore how the model could be broken into layers and how it would behave if translated into other formats. It’s also possible to choose different construction techniques like “interlocked slices,” “stacked slices,” or “curve,” depending on the desired output.
A useful feature in Slicer for Fusion is the ability to define new materials. I created a custom material by entering parameters such as thickness, kerf (the width of the cut), and material type. This is especially helpful when working with non-standard or locally available materials. Additionally, the software provides options for adjusting slice direction, part layout, and dowel placement if assembly is required. Even though I wasn’t planning to fabricate the LEGO in this method, using Slicer allowed me to analyze its geometry in a different way and consider future possibilities for translating the digital body into physical layered forms.
After exporting the files from Slicer as .dxf and importing them into CorelDRAW for final adjustments, here is the screenshot of the completed file:
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One of the highlights of my Fab Academy journey was learning how to use the laser cutter — a tool that quickly became one of my favorites. At the beginning, I had no experience with laser cutting, but through the hands-on assignments, I learned not only how to operate the machine, but also how to think differently about design and fabrication.
I especially enjoyed exploring parametric design, which was a completely new concept for me. Using tools like FreeCAD, I discovered how to create designs that are flexible and adaptable, where changing one value could update the entire model. This approach saved time, reduced mistakes, and gave me more control over the final result. It was challenging at first, but incredibly rewarding once I started to understand how everything connected.
Combining parametric design with laser cutting helped me go from idea to physical prototype much faster. I also learned to consider things like material thickness, kerf, and focus settings — small but crucial details that make a big difference in the final outcome. There were definitely some frustrating moments, especially when things didn’t work as expected, but that’s part of the learning process.
Overall, working with the laser cutter and learning parametric design gave me a strong foundation in digital fabrication. It changed how I approach problem-solving and opened up new ways of creating — from simple shapes to more complex assemblies.