‘Automation’ is more easily associated with repetitiveness and protocols than with creativity. Especially when translating automation to Kern Studios, where artists create unique artworks, it might be hard to picture an ongoing ‘assembly line’.
Yet at Kern, we use automation merely as a means to an end. And that makes all the difference. Although it comes in handy from time to time that our automated sculpting robot is able to endlessly replicate things, we will never become a sculpture ‘factory’.
For us, automation –or digital fabrication- simply means we will be making props with a slightly different tool. Of course the sculpting robot is a very advanced tool that opens up many new exciting possibilities. And it is capable to run unattended almost 24/7, but nonetheless it is still a tool. Before we can make use of it, we start with an idea and a simple 2D sketch, drawn up by one of our talented designers. Just like with traditional fabrication.
From there, the process continues by turning the 2D sketch into a 3D computer model. At Kern Studios, all 3D modeling is done by experienced sculptors. Naturally, they know all about the Bits and the Bytes, but we chose to give priority to artistic skill, since we believe it makes for better, more creative work.
Once the 3D model –or digital sculpture- is finished and we’ve determined the best way to cut out the sculpture, only then do we put the robot to work. To sum things up: identical creative process; slightly different tools.
Or, as Alex Sherrod, senior sculptor at Kern Studios describes it: “The robot actually challenges me as an artist to take my work a step further than anything I’ve ever done by hand.’
New Orleans, May 2016