Post-Industrial Landscapes 4.0 - Sugar
CNC Machine, Interactive Sugar Sculptures
July 05, 2016
Background
Sugar is sexy, superbly psychedelic, stimulating, sweet and synonymous for a society of hyper consumption and addiction to instant gratification in all levels of life. Therefore, an Arduino based CNC machine was created for sugar printing. A series of interactive sugar lamps were later shown in the Osage Gallery for the 'Post-Industrial Landscapes 4.0', organised by the Architectural Association School of Architecture. The sweet-smelling, seductive colour and the dazzling lustre of the sculptures brought lots of attention. However, the excessive concern finally brought the death of the pieces (the melting of sugar).
Overview
Does a piece of sculpture have to be everlasting? By questioning the immutability, a sugar printing machine was created, along with Mr. Victor Leung, and assisted by Zihan Li and Nolan Huang. The machine was based on arduino CNC shield chip and Makeblock components, along with Rhino and Grasshopper for modelling. A PID controller was later placed onto the heater under the container, for keeping the target sugar temperature. When the machine started to operate, we got the idea of hacking IKEA lamps.
The switches of the lamps were supplanted by distance sensors. When viewers approached the lamps, they would automatically turned on. The longer they stayed, the brighter and hotter the lamps would be, therefore, the melting of the sugar would be accelerated according to the increasing level of attention. The brightness enhanced the texture and lustre of the sculptures, at the same time, pervading the space with a subtle sweet-smelling of caramel.
Reflection
In the exhibition, we showed both the machine (operational) and the sculptures. Since the sculptures kept self-destroying, one question is that how to maintain the aesthetics even though they were melting? In 'Post-Industrial Landscapes 4.0', we were required to replace the melted sculptures with new ones, however, I'd prefer to retain the melting ones. On one hand, the particularity of the material, sugar, needed to be emphasised. On the other hand, audience were also part of the processing as their attention accelerated the melting of the sugar. With a photo wall documenting everyday's change of the sculptures, the enjoyment of observing the sculptures would be reinforced.