It is not often that you hear of an artist who creates a sculpture specifically for scientists to experiment on, but that is precisely what the UK artist Tom Lomax did in 2013 when he created Out of the Cauldron, an open-access work that anyone with a 3D printer can produce. The sculpture is now helping researchers studying the long-term preservation of works created using rapid prototyping technologies, which today’s artists are increasingly incorporating into their practice. Many of these works are made from plastics—a media that comes in a seemingly unending number of varieties and therefore may have different needs in terms of care.
Because Out of the Cauldron is free to download, it essentially functions as a case study for researchers anywhere in the world. It can be reproduced in a variety of materials and subjected to a battery of accelerated tests to see how it ages. “I don’t know of many artists who would do this. It’s an act of tremendous generosity,” says Matija Strlic, the deputy director of the Institute for Sustainable Heritage at University College London (UCL), who says Lomax was inspired by the thought of the piece being scrutinised by scientists. “I’m looking forward to 3D printing my own so I can watch it degrade,” Strlic jokes, adding: “But under the right conditions, of course, so that it happens very slowly.”
The Lomax piece has already been subjected to light-sensitivity tests by Carolien Coon, a researcher at UCL. Scientists are currently developing protective coatings for art through the European Union-funded Nanorestart project, which focuses on nanotechnologies and contemporary art. UCL will be testing these new coatings.
Out of the Cauldron was made as part of the Design with Heritage project. The Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded initiative, led by the Institute for Sustainable Heritage and the Victoria & Albert Museum, aims to foster collaboration between the design and research communities.