THIRD PRIZE
David Bowen
USA, 2009
About the project
The device builds a series of simulations of a growing onion plant by means of three-D scanning and printing, outputting one image every twenty-four hours from one of three angles. A fused deposition modeler that uses ABS plastic as its material is running simultaneously with a laser scanner that scans the onion. The output of this process appears rather mechanical and barren, displayed as it is at regular intervals on a conveyor belt that loops away from the scanning/printing mechanism, around a roller and back. What are we to make of this optical/mechanical freezing in time of the metabolism of the plant, this arresting time-lapse sculptural portrait of an object that we know will cease to exist once its life cycle is complete? As is often the case with three-D printed objects, the simplicity of the sculptures is captivating: they make no greater claim than to be uncannily near-faithful reproductions of commonplace items. This simplicity highlights the ambiguities of the repetitive recording task, where humans – helpless observers at best – are not even present for most of the process but are substituted for by the relentless machine. The mood is one of resignation that is tinged by an almost transcendent hopefulness about teasing out the order that permeates the visible world, reminiscent of some features of conceptual art at its height.
Career
EDUCATION
2004 M.F.A., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
1999 B.F.A., Herron School of Art, Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, IN
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
*indicates one-person exhibition
2009 *if/then, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA
One person exhibition featuring robotic installation
BioLogic: A Natural History of Digital Life, Siggraph 09, New Orleans, LA
The Vitreous: Of Eyes and Optics, Klein Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Data+Art: Science and Art in the Age of Information, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA
ArcheTime, The Tank Space for Performing and Visual Arts, New York, NY
David Bowen and Jason Hackenwerth, Eleanor Prest Reese & Robert B. Berkshire Galleries, Herron School of Art, Indianapolis, IN
2008 BRAINWAVE: Common Senses, Exit Art, New York, NY
Nowhere/Now/Here, Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial Gijón-Asturias, Spain
IN RESIDENCE: Recent Projects from Sculpture Space, EFA Project Space, New York, NY
Abels Sketchbook, Vitenfabrikken Science Center, Stavanger, Norway
Evolution Haute Couture: Art and Science in the Post-Biological Age, IX MediaForum, Moscow, Russia
How Does Your Garden Grow?, The Kemper Room Art Gallery, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
Phenomena(l), Spaces, Cleveland, OH
HMC, Vizivarosi Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
Making Their Mark, Nightingale Gallery, Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, OR
2007 Host, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
*anomalies, Hotcakes Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
artLA, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
*on growth and form, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
Automation, Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, Detroit, MI
The Minnesota Biennial: 3D II, Minnesota Museum of American Art, St Paul, MN
locate-point-place, Vergette Gallery, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
2006 Good Work, Dangerous Curve, Los Angeles, CA
Robotix, PASS-Parc d’Aventure Scientifiques, Brussels, Belgium
Voxumenta, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA
From/About, Central European Cultural Institute, Budapest, Hungary
Balatonfured International film festival, Congress Center, Balatonfured, Hungary
Surface, Space and Light, ALL gallery, New Haven, CT
Light III: Iluminations, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NY
Light/Sound/Action: Art and Technology, Utica College, Utica NY
2005 Thailand New Media Art Festival, Bed Supperclub, Bangkok, Thailand
Works in Progress, Sculpture Space, Utica NY
Compulsive Expression, Blackstone River Gallery, Woonsocket, RI
2004 *interactive systems, Zone Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Draw, Soo Visual Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Sparkfest, Regis Center for Art, Minneapolis, MN
2003 *interaction, Paul Whitney Larson Gallery, St. Paul, MN
Art of Machines, Rxgallery blasthaus, San Francisco, CA
ArtBots: the robot talent show, Eyebeam Atelier, New York, NY
systems, Paul Watkins Gallery, Winona State University Winona, MN
Untitled 2, Soo Visual Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Visible Fringe, Thomas Barry Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN
2002 *Recent Works, Lafayette Museum of Art, Lafayette, IN
Sculpture Salmagundi VI, Rocky Mount Art Center, Rocky Mount, NC
REVIEWS/PRESS
2009 Leonardo, Volume 42, Number 4
Popular Mechanics, Russia, January, No (75) Sergey Apresov
Antennae, issue 9, Spring, Giovanni Aloi
Exibart.onpaper, April – May, Vol # 56 Laura Boffi
2008 Art in America, April 2008 Vol. # 4 Mind and Matter Eleanor Heartney
we make money not art.com, November 7 Régine Debatty
Newstalk Radio Ireland, November 13th
we make money not art.com, March 26th Régine Debatty
2007 Sculpture, January/February, Vol. 26 No. 1
we make money not art.com, April 17 Régine Debatty
Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 22nd
AWARDS
2009 Siggraph Artist in Residence, New Orleans, LA
McKnight Fellowship,
2008 Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE
2007 Joan Mitchell fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
Grant in Aid of Research, Artistry and Scholarship, University of Minnesota
2006 International Artist Residency, Csopak, Hungary
2005 Sculpture Space, Utica, NY
Faculty international travel award, awarded by the University of Kansas
2004 The Drawing Center Viewing Program, New York, NY