Cirripedia

At the end of "On The Origin of Species", Darwin reflected on how biological life transformed from humble beginnings into 'endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful'. This project is inspired by those humble beginnings, and in particular, Darwin's obsessive study of the barnacle. These creatures colonise surfaces, secrete their shell and map out the space and form of the ocean.
The form and structure of this shell as cover, carapace and shelter informs this work, as does its ubiquity and multiplicity. This project uses stereolithography to produce a series of structurally identical shell like forms that are contained within each other during printing but have the potential to expand and command space as individual forms. These forms could be scattered across a horizontal surface but could also potentially occupy vertical space (eg plinth side or wall) just as barnacles colonise various underwater orientations.
This work toured the UK as part of the "Inside Out" exhibition in 2010/2011
This work explores stereolithography and the possibilities of producing 3D objects from computer files. The aim of this work was to produce multiple scaled objects of the same 3D object that could be contained within the printing process as a singular form but could expand and break up to command space across a surface as 9 separate objects. This work links ideas of biology, the serial object in art and seperates the work and artist through the printing process thus promoting the 'mobility' of the object. This work contributes to new knowledge by combining new technology with biological ideas of reproduction and replication under the umbrella of Darwin's theories of the transformation of biological form.