Ziv Schneider, Caitlin Robinson: Watertight
Artist(s):
Title:
- Watertight
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2017
Medium:
- 3D prints
Category:
Artist Statement:
Since the 1950s, the number of people who live by themselves is growing exponentially. In the 10,000 year history of human civilization, this is the first documented period where large proportions of the population occupy their own, individual, dwelling. Today more than half of the residents of Manhattan live alone. The Watertight collection is an incomplete archive of infrastructure that supports single-occupant living in New York City.
As the depth information of the environment is collected, the software program Skanect converts the data points into a visual representation in digital form, known as a mesh. Once the mesh is complete, the specimen is prepared for archiving. A computative process, called “watertight”, translates the virtual representation into a format suitable for 3D printing. This algorithm rounds up the geometry of the mesh, filling holes, interpolating missing features, and estimating corrections for data errors.
The physical replicas of the habitats are created through additive manufacture with a Stratasys J750 printer. The 3D prints are made of thousands of layers of a liquid photopolymer which is cured under ultraviolet light. This photopolymer is an acrylate plastic, and is predicted to retain its structure indefinitely.
