Weekender: 3D printing company and artist collaborate to create unique sculpture

A North Yorkshire 3D printing company and an internationally-acclaimed artist are teaming up to create a unique sculpture for York Mediale 2018, the new media arts festival taking place in the city in the Autumn.
Matthew Plummer-Fernandez is halfway through an eight month residency with Tockwith-based Fluxaxis, a young 3D printing company spun out of the incubator of Stage One, which built the ‘Cauldron’ for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The output from this is planned to be a large sculpture which will be unveiled in York city centre during York Mediale, alongside a full programme of live performances, dance and music across the city spread across the 10 days.

The partnership will stretch the cutting-edge 3D printing technology available at Fluxaxis to its limits, in a pioneering project which could fundamentally change the way anything from exhibition stands to film sets are built.
Plummer-Fernandez is known around the world for his innovative work with 3D printing. His work has been commissioned by the Pompidou in Paris, the V&A and Somerset House in London, where his studio is based.

The partnership with Fluxaxis will see his digital models turned physical. The size constraints of standard 3D printing – with most printers having only the capacity to produce models the size of a box of A4 paper – have seen the physical manifestations of his work to date being modestly sized.

However, the huge capacity of the largest machines at Fluxaxis will enable him to produce sculptures on a much larger scale.
Tom Higham, Creative Director of York Mediale 2018, said: “We’re so delighted to be able to have put together this residency with the team at Fluxaxis. Pairing an artist who develops technology with a technology company who make art is such an exciting opportunity, from which they can both learn.

“This partnership between Matthew and the Fluxaxis team is being watched closely by artists, software and hardware developers and everyone interested in making, fabricating and digital manufacturing. There is no limit to the potential of the technology Matthew’s working with, but the premise here, and throughout the Mediale, is that artists are essentially developers, prototypers, critics and researchers in the development of technology.

I am delighted that this is a central part of the programme of York Mediale and I am excited to see the results. This collaboration will have an artistic, commercial and critical legacy that will last long beyond the eight-month commission.”
There are a number of different techniques used by 3D printers, depending on the quality of the finish needed. For a sculpture on the scale that Matthew is planning, the largest 3D printer in Yorkshire is available to him.

This device prints big and fast in fire-retardant acrylic, with a maximum print size of 1.5m by 1.2m by 1.8m.
Matthew’s finished sculpture will be printed in separate large pieces, which will then be assembled and painted before it goes on display in York city centre in September.
Plummer-Fernandez commented: “3D printing is an evolving and emerging industry, becoming-with ongoing developments seen in other practices – sculpture, prop-making, car design, and so on. Such residencies allow that – rather than have artists and fabricators develop over years of guesswork and outdated preconceptions of what is needed or offered from one another – we sit down together and influence each other’s development towards better relations, co-working methods and new ideas, rendering each other capable of things we couldn’t do before. Fluxaxis has been particularly generous and open to this approach.”

Fluxaxis was set up with a £1m investment in the very latest 3D scanning and printing technology.  “We know that this is a technology which is going to grow in importance, but it is so expensive that it is usually purchased for a specific purpose, with few companies willing to speculate on how it could be used, and that is what makes this so exciting,” comments Edwin Stokes, Technical Director of Fluxaxis.

“We have four 3D printers, all with different capabilities in terms of size, material and precision, which makes us the best equipped 3D printing bureau in the country, but with the vision of Stage One behind us, we can see almost unlimited potential in sectors as yet untapped. Pushing the limits of the technology with Matthew is a superb way of showing what can be done when you combine imagination, artistry and this fabrication expertise.”