Engineering workshop and bridge talk
I started to document Derek’s / the engineering workshop last week where there are mills and lathes – some old some very new. We discussed the transition from traditional towards computer operated processes and the shift from skills to knowledge. The physical manifestation of knowledge is skill, where materials and tools are physically manipulated to create objects. So in terms of what’s happening in contemporary engineering (as in many professions) is the integration of the digital. Knowledge develops in terms of using software’s to create the design work. The work has become more procedural in terms of operating the new Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines. Where as a lathe operator would load the material and use skill to achieve the object, with the CNC machines there could, (especially in larger companies) be a loader – who puts the material into the machine, the setter who loads the information into the computer integrated into the machine, and the programmer who writes the design in computer code which the setter inputs. With CNC processes you can walk away while the part is being tooled (made), obviously differing from traditional lathe work. There are varying degrees of skill in these (CNC) processes, in some smaller companies all the processes could be carried out by one individual. This segmenting reminds me of Adam Smith’s division of labour and Derek talked about the shift from blue collar to white collar which I have explored extensively in my practice.
We also discussed contemporary architecture and how the architect needs to have a working awareness of the capabilities of engineering as that is what will make the building stay standing. Having said that Derek was saying that engineers thrive on a challenge and that’s what we have with this no pointed needle. Working from a video still is problematic (and then also an opportunity) as it has no three dimensional measurements. So the measurements loaded into CAD come from estimation which I image is poor engineering practice. But from an artists perspective estimation and aesthetics is something I often work with. We will get there in the end (get the no pointed needle made) but it’s interesting to consider where the end is. The process of identifying when something is finished is more fluid for artists as work can always be described as being ‘in process’ with the presentation of the work in exhibitions or artists talks acting as a end point so to speak. However as one body of work is presented the things that didn’t quite work or those interesting ideas that started to emerge are the staring point for the next body of work. It’s a constant evolving process, at least it is for me.
I’m wondering if the CAD drawing/design of the no pointed needle will become more interesting to me and I could leave the video still image behind (using it as a departure point only). For an engineer that would be more difficult because from what I’m learning its about finding the solution to the original brief. Paul, the other CAD student himself an engineer, suggested with humour that to abandon the original intention (the translation of the video source material) would be bodging. Art practice as bodging sounds an interesting idea to me.
I left Derek last week with my shire how needles are madebook and in return I was lent a book about the Forth Bridge which I read the other night. We wondered last week if the over engineering of this bridge was due to the first one collapsing during construction but it was another, the Tay bridge. There was also mention of the Forster + Partners Millau viaduct in France. (http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/1158/Default.aspx )
That’s what is so good about residencies, the original aims are explored but it’s all the other subjects and ideas that come alongside that makes it such an interesting way of working.
All this and not so much about the CAD and RP stuff we did, so more about that later.
Research in temperature controlled rooms and a society meeting
Went to Tate archive yesterday to look at some Artist Placement Group’s (APG) documents. http://www.tate.org.uk/learning/artistsinfocus/apg/overview.htm These archives are odd places to visit, everyone seems to speak in hushed tones, but then the door from the archive into the reading room is incredibly noisy each time it bangs shut. I don’t think the staff hear it anymore. I been to quite a few archives and I am always excited before I go at the thought of what I might find, sleepy when I am there due to the subdued lighting, the constant temperature and the almost (!) silence, and then hopefully buzzing with thoughts a day or so later.
The archive took most of the day and then off to the Science Museum to have a quick look around (where I was thinking about what defines a designer and what an engineer). It was only a quick look as I went to the Newcome Society lecture – The History of Computing by Professor Martin Campbell-Kelly. http://www.newcomen.com/index.htm It ame to my attention through one of those evenings of ‘focused Internet research’ which quickly turns into a trawl through lots of ‘interesting stuff’ you would never have found before the days of the Internet. How exactly the Internet has altered the ideas of serendipity I don’t know. There were some good images and diagrams of early offices in the lecture which was what I wanted to know more about: Why did people document, through painting and etching and later photography the work place? More focused research, well browsing really, of the Science and Society Picture Library and found a rather nice example of office life as was – Office Life: Headquarters of Clarks Shoes http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10250376&wwwflag=3&imagepos=71
Over engineered
Today when faced with the CAD programme I did remember quite a bit from last week (when it felt a totally alien way of working). Today I was able to complete the tasks that Derek set Paul and I, it felt a bit more familiar and accessible.
We had discussions about the Falkirk Wheel http://www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk/index.html which Derek thought was an excellent example of the cross over between engineering and art and yes it is an impressive piece of architectural design although I haven’t seen it in action only photos. The Millennium Bridge in Newcastle near Baltic http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Leisure%20and%20Culture/attractions/bridge/Home.aspx also featured in our discussions as did the Grand Canyon Skywalk – I can hardly even watch the video on the website without feeling queasy. http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/index.html We moved onto how some structures (and maybe objects also) can be over engineered, possibly the Forth Rail Bridge being an example of this, we thought perhaps because the first one might have collapsed during construction?http://www.forthbridges.org.uk/railbridgemain.htm
When I started thinking about CAD and RP and wanting to be at Hethel it was so I could document the environment, learn CAD and make a ‘no pointed needle’ in RP. The no pointed needle came from a video work I made in 2003, Video Triptych. The work used a real object, manipulated to camera and captured to tape using different camera functions: the result is the no pointed needle which only exists digitally. My aim is to make this object three dimensional (in its new form) using CAD as a translation tool and RP as the making tool. I tired to make the no pointed needle and a needle in CAD today with some success (and help). In CAD the needle becomes an object constructed of parts rather than drawn from a single length of wire which is how they are manufactured.
Quote for the day, well there are two, something being over engineered (but my work being described as under engineered!) and also ‘a straight line is an arc of infinite radius’. There was some discussion between Paul and Derek as to the meaning of this but I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about. I imagine that if I launched into art-speak there might be a similar reaction. I like how each job/profession has its own language and how that translates across different disciplines (or not) – all a learning curve or arc perhaps.
After the challenges of learning the beginnings of CAD, at the end of last week I was back in my comfort zone taking photographs. This time of the inside of the building focusing on a number of spaces which are for hire including conference, meeting and training rooms.
I’m back learning CAD tomorrow and have looked over my erratic and nonsensical notes. I’m hoping when faced with the program I will remember what we learnt last week, i seem to remember it all starts with ‘starting a sketch’.
A line has three things: 2 end points and the line itself
This was my first day learning Computer Aided Design which I have never done before. Derek, the engineering manager was teaching me and Paul, a tenant at Hethel. It’s seems a complex programme as they all do until you get the hang of them however I find I don’t visualise in 3 dimensions in the way engineers and designers do and so need a fair bit of help. Derek is asking me to consider my design intention, which i am considering could be a variation on a creative intention but in this context means making everything intentional. I’m not sure if there is a place for the accidental/unintended here as there is in art practice. The objects I made in CAD were rather small due to my brain working in cm and the programme working in mm – which i suppose was me trying to be intentional and still making mistakes.
There is a whole new vocabulary with this software and the engineering approach which is really interesting and is making me think about all kind of things in new ways. There are words and phrases which take me back to secondary school maths and technical drawing classes (some 20 years back) and some which are completely new to me…. tangents, adding relations forces conditions onto lines, features, extrude Boss/Base, referencing the origin, restraints, planes and surfaces…. Best piece of vocabulary from the day was from Derek, ‘infinite thinness’ describing something which had well …..infinite thinness.
