+ FARM, a group of artists, architects, builders and digital fabricators that explores the boundaries between art and technology, will lead a workshop for students Friday through Sunday, Oct. 21-23, in the new sculpture studios of Rockefeller Arts Center as part of the grand opening weekend festivities.
Students will collaborate with + FARM members to digitally design a free-standing sculpture and then fabricate it. The sculpture will be designed as a projection surface for video as students will learn how to take a project from concept to reality using design, architecture and visual art. The project will be installed on campus for public view.
The group is headed by William Haskas, a faculty member at the Pratt Institute in New York City, and is one of the companies in residence at the Fredonia Technology Incubator in Dunkirk.
The workshop, with sessions to be held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, is free to students and is sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Arts. For more information or to sign up for the workshop, contact Peter Tucker at peter.tucker@fredonia.edu.
The first day of the workshop centers on digital design. The project will begin by taking formal concepts into the computational realm. No prior knowledge of digital programs will be required, and student will learn how to take their concepts out of the computer to build their ideas with real materials.
Day two concentrates on fabrication: Students will work in teams, and one project will be selected by the group to be the final installation. Students will learn how to extract useful drawings and information from the model to create complex and accurate built pieces. By the end of the second day students will have fabricated all the parts of the installation.
The final day will be the installation and celebration of the project. Students will work with the +FARM faculty to assemble the pieces, and will be given hands-on instruction on how materials and structure work. It will come together as a full scale installation designed and built in three days by the students.
