Hybrid Glass Craft - Novel Approaches to Materials and Digital Tools in Glass Craft as a Model for the Synthesis of Art and Technology

Project: Research

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Description

In 2022, the UN celebrated the International Year of Glass, to "underline the technological, scientific, economic, environmental, historical and artistic role of glass in our societies" (UN, 2021). Today, most research and innovation in glass takes place in material science and engineering contexts. The potential of research into glass craft as an interdisciplinary model, combining novel techniques and materials, as a cultural and artistic dimension, is often overlooked. There is little understanding of how contemporary craft in Art and Technology, can lead to interdisciplinary collaborative research and innovations in and beyond glass. In the long history of applied arts, advances in technologies and design have been prompted by and promoted through expert craftspeople. Precision, transparency, curiosity, and discovery to innovate are the keywords, leading to methods and material combinations that were later adopted at industrial scales. This research builds on the analysis of traditional glass craft procedures, to introduce custom made digital fabrication methods, leading to a synthesis model for digital craft in glass making – hybrid glass craft. Together with our Co-I, Dr. Sunny Wang, head of the glass workshop of the Academy of Visual Arts, Baptist University, and collaboratively with Hong Kong based glass craft practitioners we will develop, test, document and analyse new material and digital tooling combinations in glass making. The research will introduce 3D scanning, 3D printing, subtractive CNC milling, and smart material applications in both the hot glass making processes of casting and blowing as well as in the cold working processes. Periodic meetings with researchers and craft practitioners from Hong Kong and abroad will methodically integrate feedback into the research and thus articulate interdisciplinary, practice-based research outcomes. The results will be presented as public exhibitions in 2026/27 in Hong Kong and potentially at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. The exhibitions will showcase the prototypes, newly created tools and resulting glass works together with traditional glass objects. A preliminary new glass work by the PI is confirmed to be exhibited at the M+ Museum Hong Kong. An accompanying symposium with invited guests from the field of glass arts, material science, and computer aided manufacturing will engage a wider public audience, researchers, artists, and designers. An edited transcription of the symposium's recording will form the basis for a book publication, academic journals such as Leonardo, and conferences such as ISEA that address the crossover of science and technology into art. 

Detail(s)

Project number9043777
Grant typeGRF
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/01/25 → …