Volkan Alkanoglu's "Distortion" Installed in Cedar Rapids, IA

Demiurge is thrilled to announce the completion of Volkan Alkanoglu's piece, Distortion. All 150 tessellated pieces of aluminum have been fabricated, painted and installed in the box office atrium at the Cedar Rapids U.S. Cellular Convention Center. The power of simplicity and iterative difference is ever apparent as the piece visually unifies the large interior volume.

 

From the Artist:

“It [Distortion] is representing spatial connectivity, visual effects and geometrical references of Cedar Rapids.

The contemporary artwork is developed as a contrast to the architecture of the building introducing a synthetic balance. The sculpture is represented as a distorted field condition connecting the past to the present and the future. The colorful pattern allows for multiple readings and a playful ambiguity between surface and openness. The material choice of colored Aluminum highlighted with a spectrum of multiple colors is a balanced towards the interior qualities and tonality of the Convention Center atrium.”

The richness and complexity of this piece required superior project management and digital workflow; projects such as Distortion with large quantities of unique elements require careful workflow and production design. To that end, Demiurge developed a small piece of custom code to read the 3D model the artist produced and output a spreadsheet for precise bending of the aluminum sheet, as well as coordinating and labeling all of the parts. Demiurge also took advantage of our close vendor relationships to ensure the parts were cut to precise tolerances and labelled before leaving the waterjet table to keep our workflow intact. The parts were then precisely bent using the code-generated spreadsheet, assembled into the finished pieces, prepared, and painted using paint codes selected by the artist and digitally checked in Adobe Illustrator using our large color library. The piece was crated and shipped to Cedar Rapids where our installation team met the piece and installed it over the course of three days. 

This piece, with all its complexity and precision, is an excellent example of the use and benefits of digital design, digital fabrication, in combination with the workflow and manufacturing integration Demiurge implements with every project.

Volkan Alkanoglu is the founding principal of Volkan Alkanoglu | DESIGN LLC  whose works have spanned the globe and received both national and international recognition receiving awards for art installations, product design, visionary building designs and sustainable environments. We are excited to continue working with Volkan on his public artworks. In addition to the Cedar Rapids project, we are currently fabricating Quill Motion, to be installed at the Salt Lake Community College in Taylorsville, Utah at the end of May 2013.

Scripting Sculpture: Parametric Design in Art Fabrication

Grasshopper is a graphical algorithm editor which integrates with Rhinoceros, an advanced 3D modelling and production software. Grasshopper enables artists and designers to harness the power of generative scripting and computer programming to simulate natural physical processes. The possibilities afforded by the use of this software are as vast as the physical world we live in. Grasshopper can perform complex simulations of biological processes, cellular automata, and physical forces, as well as other processes which can be described using mathematical equations.

Grasshopper demonstrates a wide variety of modelling and design approaches by the the mass customization of artistic components through digital fabrication. For pieces with repetitive elements, it enables the preview of many different iterations of placement, spacing, and organization before a single part is fabricated. 

Grasshopper allows artists to capture the true nature of objects because the design can be “grown” in the same way, using the same rules, as the physical object the artist is trying to emulate. This creates all the nuances and uncertainty of these natural objects with a minimum of time invested, empowering the artist to focus more on composition, color, location, and the business of securing art commissions.

Behind the scenes, Grasshopper permits us to automate large parts of the production process which saves considerable money and time over traditional methods of fabrication, and ensures the highest possible quality in all of our produced work. Cut sheets are generated and exported to Excel spreadsheets from models automatically. Updates to one element propagate throughout the project, eliminating the need to re-draw components and with them, the chance of error. Workflow can be optimized for a variety of digital outputs, including integrated toolpath generation for CNC systems and Additive Manufacturing on our in-house 3D printer.

Excel Cut Lists

These advanced design capabilities, long the purview of academic research laboratories, enable Demiurge to transcend the role of art fabricator to offer conceptual design in addition to our construction design services. By partnering with Demiurge on your next sculpture proposal or installation, you can utilize the knowledge and expertise of our designers and fabricators as well as our advanced design software and techniques to give you capabilities far beyond what has previously been applied to public and private art commissions. 

A Trending of Composites in the Art World

Catalyzed resins and glass fiber reinforced plastics have been around for over 50 years, yet composite materials are finally beginning to evolve beyond petroleum-based products to address environmental and sustainability concerns. Research and experimentation in materials such as woven basalt fibers and water-based bio-chemical resins are leading the way to greener composite production.

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