An occasional newsletter of the Computers and Sculpture Forum.

This issue prepared by Tim Duffield (Assisted by Rob Fisher and Robert Smith) _

Can you believe it? Another issue of THE PLATFORM only a few weeks after the last one. Just when you thought it was dead and buried after a long, long silence it resurrects itself, not once, but twice. The new name for the newsletter will be LAZARUS II. This issue brings you preliminary information about

A brief recap of history for those who have not been with us from the beginning: in 1990, the conference was held in Washington, DC. For the first time, a panel discussed the use of the computer in sculpture. Bruce Beasley and Rob Fisher were the main participants. There was a great deal of interest, and, following the panel session, a room was commandeered to accommodate a throng hungry for more crumbs of information. From that event was formed the determination to provide a greater presence at the Philadelphia conference in 1992. David Smalley and I (Tim Duffield) joined Rob and Bruce in organizing what turned into a sort of mini-conference. In addition to a main conference session, we staged an exhibition of computer-related work, and ran dozens of "poster" sessions and Arial demonstrations. David and Rob produced a video "The Computer: A Tool for Sculptors" based on the work at the conference. In 1994, in San Francisco, we did something very similar and, in the process, gained an influx of membership in The Computers and Sculpture Forum. To that date, the membership had been predominantly East Coast based but we now embraced a West Coast contingent. Two years later, the conference convened again in the East, in Providence, RI. Until this conference, our doings, although well attended, had been somewhat peripheral to the main conference threads - we held a sort of fringe conference. In Providence, we seemed to be taken to the bosom of the ISC proper. We staged a full day of conference activities, presentations and demonstrations. Our sessions were some of the best attended of the conference. Our membership has always included international sculptors, and in Providence Christian Lavigne, representative of our French sister group, Ars Mathematica, joined us. We have also combined with them twice in organizing Intersculpt'95 and Intersculpt'97.

As you will see, what we are planning for Chicago follows this progression. We will be playing a major role in the conference and

We will have the use of one of the largest conference spaces (it will seat 650 people) for the whole of Saturday. Planning is very preliminary, but the day is likely to shape up like this: sequences of poster sessions, grouped by theme, interspersed by panel discussions and panoramic overviews of our terrain. It is likely that ISC board members Rob Fisher and Bruce Beasley will chair the panels. I am in charge of organizing this day, as I was for most of the similar time we were allotted in Providence. We are looking for ideas from you, so anything that is written now may well be superceded. Read on for procedures for getting in touch and influencing the process.

There is a sense that this conference will mark the "coming of age" of the computer in sculpture -- not just the maturation of its use here in the United States, but also its global acceptance. We are discussing an international panel as the centerpiece for the day. We hope to explore not only what is happening in "developed" nations, but also what is emerging in "developing" ones. We are looking into the possibility of obtaining material from Africa. There will be a particular reference to what is going on - and what has been going on for a surprising amount of time - in Central Europe in a presentation given by Martin Sperka of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. Also, English sculptor Keith Brown will talk on the formation of a UK Computers and Sculpture Forum.

In addition to our own day in the sun, another conference session is planned: a briefing to the ISC membership on the status and development of the ISC website. We are also trying to arrange for computers to be set up in the conference lobby space preprogrammed to the website, so that those who have not yet experienced it will have the opportunity to do so and explore. In Providence, discussion of the website was reserved for our Computers and Sculpture Forum sessions. The world has come a long way since then and a familiarity with the use of the web is important for all of us, whether or not we actually use the computer in the creation of sculpture. The creative and exploratory use of the web will have a large place in the Forum sessions, but we felt that nuts and bolts matters had a broad relevance for the general membership and would be part of the mainstream sessions.

Two years ago we attracted an audience of, perhaps, more than 400 people at times during the day. Many of them endured - and even enjoyed - the marathon until the bitter end! We witnessed in Providence the beginnings of a general acceptance of the computer as a tool for our profession. Not only were our own sessions well attended, but computer renderings and computer based material were frequently seen in presentations that made no particular reference to the computer itself.

Our membership has grown from an initial group of about 40 or 50 sculptors to nearly 150. But we feel that there are probably many, many more sculptors who have now, to varying degrees, assimilated the computer into their professional arsenal. We are expecting, therefore, not only an even higher attendance rate than we enjoyed in Providence, but also, so long as we can make it known that an opportunity exists to show work and present ideas, a greater variety of high quality work will be submitted for consideration.

The bulk of our membership is in the East, because most of the conferences that we have helped to organize have been East Coast affairs. We will be placing various announcements in the Mid-West to let it be known that if you are a sculptor who works with the computer, please get in touch. Those of you who live and work in the middle of the country, please let others you think may be interested know what we are doing and have them contact me for information on how to be a part of this.

Chicago has the great advantage of being relatively accessible from all parts of the world. We can forgive our West Coast friends for not making it to Providence, but let's all get to Chicago! If I can get to Chicago from Philly, you can get there from LA! It would be wonderful to have everybody meet again - it is four years since we have seen some of you.

You may have noticed that this newsletter is some ways in advance of the May opening date. We have learned a lot in the past few years of organizing. The time will pass very quickly and we have deadlines to meet along the way, mostly for ads and brochures and the like. What follows is our preliminary planning for our day in the limelight and a series of dates that I will ask you to keep in mind.

Short Poster Sessions given by sculptors who use the computer, grouped by theme. Panel discussions and overviews will relate to the themes.

Metaphorically, we hope to walk an attendee through the process of making a sculpture with the aid of the computer. After the first steps of assembling information and developing ideas we will explore computer assisted processes of manufacture. From thence we will see how the computer has enriched and, perhaps, changed our understanding of our art form. And, finally, we will look at the possibilities for the future that have opened up -- new forms of three-dimensional expression that may not have tangible substance.

Practical:

Input: Digitizing

Computer as "sketch book"

Mathematics

Design & Engineering:

Creation: Fabrication, e.g. welding of shapes cut to computer generated patterns

Milling and lathing, computer control of the milling of plastics, wood and stone.

Rapid Prototyping methods such as stereolithography.

The computer incorporated within the sculpture itself.

Theoretical:

Has the computer given us new insights into the art of sculpture? Have the boundaries of the form been enlarged?

Virtual:

The computer as a tool in the presentation of sculpture - the representation of proposed sculpture in a proposed space.

What new forms of sculpture are emerging that explore space and form - and movement - in ways that are no longer earthbound. The three-dimensional experience on the web, the future of holography and the projection of virtual "sculpture" into a real space.

Please contact me with suggestions for enriching what we have started to lay out. If you have any ideas for discussions and demonstrations, please convey them to me. If you would like to show your work in a poster session, submit your name to me. At the end of this newsletter, there is a form for you to fill out with all the details we need at this point. You may submit the information by e-mail, but if you do, you must include the information requested on the form to ease the sorting and organization - and my workload. As time goes on, we will ask you for more information and examples of work as appropriate; therefore, do not send slides, etc. at this point. If your work is visible on the web, note the URLs and I will try to visit them all.

(Note: this deadline has been extended to January 30, 1998)

If you are not asked to present your work or take part in panels or discussions, you will still have the opportunity to show your work. We anticipate a larger submission than we have received previously and we will probably be forced to be very selective in our programming. Our decisions may not always be based purely on the quality of the work, but on the need for a rounded and balanced program. We will put together slide and video presentations of the work that is not presented by you personally. The presentations will relate to the themes or sub-themes and be tied in with the discussion of the moment.

For those who cannot come to Chicago:

We encourage you to send slides and videotape of your work and the URL of your website. Again, we do not want these now. BUT, please fill out the form and send it in, noting that you will not be present, but that you have work you would like to show. Also note where you think it will fit in the Great Scheme outlined above.

There is a lot of organization ahead of us. We all have our own jobs and needs to attend to, like raising the money for frivolities such as food and rent, and we cannot shoulder every task. There will be a variety of jobs to be done, ranging from organizing slides, setting up equipment and helping with demonstrations to assembling and running a discussion panel. Please indicate on the reply form if you can help, either before or during the conference.

Robert Smith made the very good point that your page on the ISC website can be a wonderful gateway to your own home page. Somebody looking for sculpture on the net is much more likely to visit the ISC than to stumble into your site. You may well increase the traffic at your own website and easily justify the ISC portfolio fee. Robert has provided the details on how to be included in the Portfolio:

Open your portfolio to the world!

On-line sculptor's pages are now available on the Internet to ISC members at <www.sculpture.org, the International Sculpture Center's central Web site. Don't miss this exciting opportunity to increase your work's visibility at the special rate of only $150. Simply send us your slides and documentation with your payment. Let the power of <www.sculpture.org market your work to the world.

Required format for submissions:

Text:

(Biography, artist's statement, captions for each image) approximately 700 words in 12-point font. Text information must be submitted on a 3.5" floppy disk, saved as an ASCII text file, or Word for Windows (.doc) file. (Those who do not have word processors can use the services of Copymat, Kinko's, or most other full-service copy centers.)

Artwork:

Standard 35mm color slides only. No photographs. Number slides to correspond to text entries.

Please include a copy of your Sculpture magazine mailing label with membership number and expiration date.

Cost of submissions:

Special introductory rate:

5 slides in Portfolio at $150 for the first year. Each additional slide (including caption text) at $30 each, up to a total of 20 slides. Price includes two pages of text and one free link to sculptor's homepage or other URL. Maintenance fee: $50 for second and subsequent years.

Refresh fee: $30 to change or add each new slide or text pages.

Portfolio is available to ISC members only.

For membership information call the ISC at 202-785-1144.

MORE INTERNET RELATED NEWS:

WWW.SCULPTOR.ORG (Not to be confused with the ISC site). This is a resource created by Richard Collins in Virginia. Richard writes:

Sculptor.org is an effort to build a comprehensive resource for sculptors on the web. My frustration in finding tools, materials, and information about techniques for carving has driven me to look for new technologies and methods, and to help as many others as I can to avoid the problems I have had.

In May 1996, I set up a web page for sculptors, http://www.sculptor.org. It has sections on Sculptors' Associations, Sculpture in Museums, Individual Sculptor's Pages, Computers in Sculpture, "Power" Tools for Sculptors, Architecture and Sculpture, Stone Carving Tips, Commercial Galleries, Wood Carving Links, Legal and Business Issues for Sculptors, Sculpture Suppliers, Arts Foundations, Grants, Scholarships, Conservation and Preservation of Sculpture, Sculptors Jobs Search, a "Kids" Page, K-12 Training in 3D Methods, Books and Magazines, Dimension Stone and Quarries, Raytracing; Galleries, Art, and Links. With Planned sections on Sculpture Services, Exhibits, Libraries and Collections, competitions, awards, Schools, Classes, Workshops, Scholarships, Historians, Agents, Anatomy, Where to learn Sculpture, and forums related to sculpture. Tell me your preferences.

The "Computers in Sculpture" part has sections on 3D Imaging and Replication, Technologies for Machine Replication, Rapid Prototyping, 3D Computer Sculpture Links, Stereolithography, Electrical Discharge Machining, Anthropometry, Surface and 3D Digitizing, Bio(medical) Visualization, Materials Engineering, 3D Image Registration, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging Spectroscopy, Photogrammetry for Sculptors, and Robotics. Planned sections are plasma and laser cutting, calculating cutting rates, selecting power tools, poor man's power tools and others as they come up.

My long range vision is to have 3D and 4D image galleries, scanning and replication services, pointers to catalogs of tools and materials, downloadable software for computer sculpture, 3D and 4D competitions, and a list too long to put here. Please stop by. Leave me a note if you would like your link posted. Write to me at sculptor@sculptor.org. Thanks, Richard Collins

Another item comes from ANDREW WERBY who has set up a sculpture discussion group. For more information, contact him at drewid@lanminds.com. He writes:

Alt.sculpture is for discussion of: works of sculpture, including reviews of shows, web sites, books, and installations; techniques of sculpture, including (but not limited to) carving,

casting, modeling, and assemblage in all three-dimensional media; theories of art as they relate to sculpture, and opportunities for creating, showing, and commissioning sculpture. The group is not restricted to the discussion of fine art sculpture. Modelmakers, prototypers, patternmakers, and others involved in making 3-d objects are welcome to participate.

Alt.sculpture is now up and running. Please feel free to post any sculpture-related thoughts or inquiries. If it doesn't show up on your list of available newsgroups, ask your internet service provider to add it; often they will not update their lists until a request is made. You can also reach it through Deja News at http://www.dejanews.com]

SCAN.....................

The annual SCAN conference was held at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in early November. The usual crew of Rob, Robert Smith and myself were present, along with Forum members Kevin Gallup, Ron Brown, Peter Terezakis and Rod McCormick. In short, the usual scintillating crowd were more than usually entertaining and entertained.

SUNDRY ANNOUNCEMENTS.......................

I was approached by Jennifer McGregor Cutting who sought advice in her search for a sculptor for a commission for the Computer Center at Lehman College in New York. I gave her a list of our members. The commission was awarded to David Janney.

Bill and Mary Buchen of Sonic Architecture have completed commissions in Manhattan and the Bronx and are collaborating on projects in Richmond, Virginia and in Santa Monica.

David Morris has just won a competition for a fountain in Palm Springs.

I also received cards in the last few months announcing exhibitions and other achievements from Chuck Genco, Miles and Generalis, Bruce Beasley and Michael O'Rourke.

ASCI - LIGHTFORM COMPETITION

I received word from Cynthia Pannucci, the Director of ASCI, about a new competition. Part of the announcement: "LIGHTFORMS'98 marks the beginning of an exciting new biannual event for the field of lightart ! $5,000 prizes to each of three winners, award-winning judges, prestigious sponsors. This event is a co-production of Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI) and The New York Hall of Science." For more information, contact Cynthia at pannucci@asci.org, URL: http://www.asci.org PO Box 358, Staten Island, NY 10301

INTERSCULPT'97

Intersculpt '97 was held as planned from 3rd October to 18th October, 1997. You will remember that, for various domestic and professional reasons, I had been unable to do as much preliminary planning at the Philadelphia end of the event as I would have liked. With the help of Rick de Coyte and Michal Smith of the Silicon Gallery, we did manage to stage a quite acceptable exhibition, but we displayed none of the communications panache of the French in Paris. About a dozen sculptors responded to my exhortations in the last newsletter. I would like to mention the really good new work from Chuck Genco and Steve Keltner.

In Paris, Christian Lavigne organized the exhibition for Ars Mathematica. In addition to the events at the Galeries Graphe, Christian was able to stage a special afternoon of lectures and demonstrations in the French Senate at the Palais du Luxembourg. Mr. Georges Taillandier, Chairman of the French Association for Rapid Prototyping, was the guest of honor. They succeeded in persuading the President of the French Senate, Rene Monory, to be present. Christian appeared on French National Television! We had contact with Paris through ActiveWorlds, a virtual environment on the net.

Christian and I are engaged in discussion as to the future of Intersculpt. It requires a great deal of effort to stage and it is not a commercial success so has little appeal to a commercial gallery. Should it continue? What form should it take? Would it fit better in an educational or institutional venue? Should it (can it) expand to take in other countries as we originally hoped? Is there support for it? We would appreciate your feedback. Clearly, if it is to continue, then we need help running it.

There is clearly a lot of interest in the internationalism of what we are all doing (as evidenced by the panel we are planning for Chicago). In this age of electronic communication it is easy to make global contact as never before. The possibility of what we could do -- East to West linked; the New World, the Old World and the Third World - is endless. ................too much for Christian and me alone!

STOP PRESS!

ISEA '98 will be held in September in both Manchester and Liverpool in England. For early information visit their website at www.isea98.org. Keith Brown, who you will meet in Chicago, is one of the organizers of the Manchester portion.

CONTACTS:

Tim Duffield, 1551 Johnny's Way, West Chester, Pa 19382 (610) 430-8557 timd@netaxs.com

Rob Fisher, 228 North Allegheny St, Bellefonte, Pa 16823 (814) 355-1458 Glenunion@aol.com

Bruce Beasley, 322 Lewis Street, Oakland, Ca 94607 (510) 836-1414 Beasley@well.com

David Smalley, 190 Old Colchester Rd, Quaker Hill, Ct 06375 (203) 444-1150 Dasma@conncoll.edu

Robert Smith, c/o Sculpture Center, 167 E69th St, NY, NY10021 (212) 737-9870 Sculpt3d@interport.com

(Note: if you are viewing this on the Internet, please download this form, fill out and submit via e-mail or print and send by mail.)

Name ______________________________________________________________________

Address ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

Telephone _________________ Fax _________________ E-mail __________________

Website _________________________________________

(Your own, or wherever your work is open to view)

Proposal:

(Suggestions for discussion and demonstration and/or proposal for your own poster session. For the latter, give a brief description of your work and your sense of where it might fit in our preliminary outline)

Preliminary equipment needs________________________________________________________

Can you help? In Chicago? _____________________Before Chicago?_____________________

Particularly for newcomers to the Computers and Sculpture Forum....... 

We have quite a few new members who may find their questions (if not their prayers) answered by the following paragraphs. I would also like you all, however long you have been part of this, and particularly those who anticipate being in Chicago, to ponder on the fact that planning for the conference will involve costs for printing, mailing, telephones etc. I would appreciate your help.

The Computers and Sculpture Forum is a loose-knit group of sculptors who use the computer in various stages of their work. There is no doctrinal or formal requirement for membership. There is no agenda other than the maintenance of a way to keep in touch and to participate together in events that promote the sharing of our excitement in our work. We are all, I think, members of the International Sculpture Center. We have played a prominent part in the biannual conferences that the ISC convenes. We also take part, in an informal way, in other conferences and symposia, such as those staged by the International Association of Electronic Arts and the Small Computers in the Arts Network. In conjunction with colleagues in Europe who formed Ars Mathematica, we have also begun to stage our own events -- Intersculpt'95 and '97. We intend to continue these activities. 

Please understand that The Platform is only an OCCASIONAL newsletter. It may be silent for five months and then surprise everyone with a flurry of three issues in 6 weeks. The point is that it appears only when there is something to say -- which usually means in preparation for events such as the Sculpture Conference. The newsletter is the vehicle for planning the events and informing the membership. Unfortunately, it all costs money. The donations of our members and the personal expenditure of those of us who do the organizing support the production and mailing of The Platform and the organization of events such as conference sessions and exhibitions like Intersculpt '97. We don't have annual dues -- not least because I can't guarantee to turn out a newsletter regularly -- what we have is a system whereby people give anything between $10 and $35 when they feel they haven't helped for quite a while. This has worked quite well. By and large, most of the expenses (at least of putting out the newsletter) have been met.

If you have not already done so, send me your full address, telephone and fax numbers and your e-mail address and website URL. Send to Tim Duffield, 1551, Johnny's Way, West Chester, Pa 19382 OR: e-mail the information to me at timd@netaxs.com

Name __________________________________________________

Address __________________________________________________

. __________________________________________________

Telephone __________________________________________________

Fax __________________________________________________

E-mail __________________________________________________

Website __________________________________________________

I have enclosed a donation of $__________________________________

(Note: if you are viewing this on the Internet and would like to be on our mailing list, please download this form, fill out and send by mail.)