The project will identify, describe and analyse the manual skills that are required in the 3D printing workflow, and how they may remain obscured by the digital components. It will explore the extent to which 3D printing is currently perceived as something that will endanger and replace artisanal and even artistic know-how, while the actual practice, that requires considerable amounts of manual labour, is increasingly used in creative contexts. The project will build on both consolidated knowledge in the history of technologies, and the most recent literature on the perception of digital and computer-assisted creative outputs. The narratives around 3D printing technologies, especially in the creative industries and cultural heritage, will be investigated through
- interviews and focus groups involving 3D printing practitioners, artisans, end-users and other stakeholders in the creative and heritage industries.
- An analysis of current communications and media content around 3D printing technologies and 3D printed outputs.
In particular, the project will try to understand where, in the public perception, lies the demarcation line between something that is made manually (and as such has connotations of uniqueness and authenticity) and something that is made digitally or through machine assistance (and is, therefore, perceived as replaceable, easy to produce, and of little value), and where 3D printing is currently situated in this continuum.
Principal Investigator: Dr Valeria Vitale (Digital Humanities Institute)
Apply for a PhD on this project
We welcome research proposals from PhD candidates that address this project. The successful candidate will have academic experience in digital humanities, cultural heritage, digital visual studies, art history, applied arts or will be able to show how their expertise fits with the project. Some experience with data collection and analysis is preferable.