Extending spatial boundaries through sculpture practice: An exploratory study of the influence of a 3D digital and technological context on sculpture installation art

In sculpture practice, artists are challenged by a 3D digital medium within which digital data intangibility also embeds a tangible form. The focus of this study is to understand how a 3D technological context extends spatial and medium boundaries in sculpture practice and affects artists’ conceptual and practical approaches to the creative process. The study explores the sculptors’ relation to space, time, and the medium inside a gravity-free spatial context, which proposes a re-defined concept-process relationship. The research methods include a Research Creation experiential mode of inquiry and a case study interview approach. The Research Creation project documents the artist-researcher as sculptor’s conceptual investigations (which are focused on environmental concepts). The main sculpture installation work, Vulnerable: The Salmon Project, conveys a concept of memory and proposes a visual metaphor of the vulnerability of the living condition. The data collection method is informed by the artist-researcher’s creative exploration guided by an experiential learning of 3D scanning, in-depth investigations into the structure of digital objects, and applied knowledge of 3D modelling and rapid prototyping processes. The case study focuses on three professional sculptors: Kiki Smith, Evan Penny, and Trevor Gould. The artist-researcher presents an interpretation of how the artists’ conceptual explorations, professional backgrounds, and experience play a role in the way they approach 3D technology in their creative process. This research examines how artists engage with a digital medium and the ways in which it influences their visual language and artwork aesthetics. The research outcomes indicate that explorative and innovative perspectives lead to a convergence of digital mediums. Artists experience a medium that encourages the crossing over from 2D to 3D. Collaboration, or a shared knowledge approach, stimulates creative freedom inside a 3D software environment. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of artists’ interactions with extended spatial dimensions and a digital medium through which technology becomes a way of engaging, perceiving, sensing, and experiencing creativity