Writing Iteration 2
Experimenting with textures in 3D modelling software, questions of value and materiality arise which lie at the intersection of our hybrid cyber-physical world. In understanding the role digital materials play within programs such as Cinema 4D, not to mention the wider internet, the concepts of Conditional Design can provide a useful analogue. Fundamentality, such a design philosophy operates by providing an instructional framework in which creativity may take place confined (but not oppressed by) certain parameters. The outcomes of these activities are in turn informed by, relate back to, but do not transgress the limits of their conditional environment. Such a framework is useful when understanding the discourse of creativity and iteration that underlines the avatars we use online. In simplistic terms, the 3D structure itself can be seen as a framework, or perhaps more aptly a canvas, which users can reinterpret, claim ownership of, or give meaning to via the application of digital materials. In this, ease of use is paramount – the sculpting and construction of 3D models remains in the realm of production and is not integrated in the many digital realms where users encounter such artefacts. The changing of a model’s appearance via innumerable digital skins is, in contrast, a large part of the fun in massively online multiplayer games such as Fortnite. With murmurings of the approaching metaverse reverberating throughout the internet, a time where one’s online ensemble will equal our real-world sartorial choices in importance may be looming.
This proposition is, of course, underlined by the fact that these digital materials are fictional in nature – the stone face of a 3D sculpture is largely artificially-generated rather than the outcome of hammer and chisel. In the realm of 3D printing, the textures applied to a model which offer it a sense of verisimilitude (or not) can be difficult to render as polygons and physically translated. As a result the meaning any such textures may embody exists in immaterial terms. Perhaps this represents a subtle step in the shift from defining value in physical terms to that of digital aesthetics and decentralised markets.
Such questions play upon the contrasting creative discourses of uniqueness and iteration that underline the work of artists such as Oliver Laric. One could view this customization of materials upon a set digital framework (whether a well-crafted video game baddie, or a wobbly Silé na Gig) as supporting Laric’s emphasis on iteration as a driver of creative value. In this context, the rise of NFTs has proven an interesting phenomenon which straddles the line between these two modes of cultural discourse. These digital artefacts trade on a classical cultural rhetoric of scarcity and propriety whilst existing via a medium that engenders iteration and the free-flow of information. More interesting still is the fact that many popular NFTs are highly iterative in form, such as the Bored Ape series of tokens which are all variations drawn upon the same illustrative template.
Bibliography:
Bored Ape Yacht Club (no date) Bored Ape Yacht Club. Available at: https://boredapeyachtclub.com/#/ (Accessed: 03/02/22).
Laric, O. (2010) Versions. 14/12/10. Available at: https://vimeo.com/17805188 (Accessed: 03/02/22).