LO-03: Computational Fabrication

Quayola’s Unfinished Sculptures (“non-finito”) are a series of “unfinished” physical sculptures that seamlessly merges the digital and modern with classical sculptural styles of the Renaissance. Created by a generative system that carved out blocks of marble with a mechanical arm, these sculptures explore the tension and equilibrium between form and matter, man-made objects of perfection, as well as chaotic yet complex forms of nature. In programming this system, Quayola also took inspiration from Michelangelo’s unfinished series “Prigioni” (1513-1534). As an artist, I find the technique of which Quayola chose to employ in the making of this series to be especially admirable. Algorithmically, the system is composed of mathematical functions that processed geological formations which evolve infinitely, morphing eventually into the classical figures on display. Quayola’s code, then, essentially turns from an extension of his hand to an extension of the hardware which, in the end, results in an extension of the sum of ideas generated from both Quayola and Michelangelo’s brain – timeless, human and artificial.