My favorite piece at the exhibition “Out of Hand” was the exhibit that had the strongest emotional charge. The name of the installation is Object Breast Cancer (OBC) by caraballo-farman. When I first read about the installation consisting of an object of irregular shape made out of bronze, an amulet-necklace made out of gold-plated bronze and a sterling silver bead, I thought to myself:”why would any woman, who survived breast cancer want to carry an object that reminded her of all the misery she overcame?” And then I read about the caraballo-farman’s conviction that artistic interventions can have important social and psychological effects. What I realized is that seeing a prototype of the malignant tumor actually helps women fight a known, visual object and symptoms that are caused by it. They see exactly how their condition looks from the inside and how small and insignificant their tumors are (or were). They fight something concrete, rather than fear the unknown. The necklaces, charms and beads may also serve as amulets. I believe  that these pieces possess strong positive energy and may protect those wearing them.

The three observations/lessons that I have learned from my visit are, first of all, the way art changes with the introduction of 3D printing. It really lets the artists’ imagination run wild by enabling them to, for example,to print a sofa in the shape of their brain wave when they thought of a word comfort. My second observation was the variety of materials used in 3D printing, such as different types of plastic, alumide, ceramics, wool, acrylic photopolymers, precious metals, etc. Another observation was an amount of work that took place post-production that is not fully covered in the book Fabricated.

My visit to the museum definitely helped me think about many positive changes 3D printing can bring to the developments in healthcare. For example, it can personify a patient’s illness to help them fight something visual, rather than fear the unknown.

I definitely enjoyed my Makerspace experience. The best part of it was the availability of various materials and the fact that no directions were given as to what kind of material to use and what kind of object to create with it.

At the beginning of the assignment I walked around the room to see what was placed on each table. A circuit board kit for kids instantly drew my attention. However, after opening the box and trying to put together different parts, my thoughts went back in time to my school years when I struggled with my physics assignments. I thus left this activity in order to find a material that was more familiar to me and less challenging to work with. I saw a set of cards with little wooden parts that could hold cards under different angles. I found this material attractive because, although simple, it offered many ways to employ it. I have certainly held cards before and it was not a new material for me, but this time I  was looking for ways to create something that could serve a specific practical purpose. This is how I came up with my customized photograph holders that you can see below.

As it did not take me too long to create my photograph holders I decided to join two other students, Ayelet and Diana, who were sharing the desk with me. Although the products of our activity were completely unassociated with one another, we were able to put them together into one piece that we called “Our Village”. Diana constructed a palm made out of lego, Ayelet and I worked on a house for the Lego girl that had a bouquet made out of toothpicks in her hand.

What I learned from this experience is that I definitely have fear of the unknown that manifested itself in my inability to enjoy the circuit board activity. Another thing that I learned about myself is that I prefer working in teams, because I liked the idea collaboration and it was in general much more fun than working on my own. If I was given a little bit more time, I would probably try to overcome my fear and construct a functioning circuit board.

Prior to reading the book Fabricated I had very little idea about 3D printing, the technology that makes it work, and endless possibilities it offers. I am now absolutely confident that a new era of customizable do-it-yourself manufacturing is emerging with 3D printers soon turning into a commodity. At the same time, 3D printing will immensely contribute to advancements in science, technology and medicine.

The book covers different facets of 3D printing, such as various types of printers and technology, a future of the design software and the economy of printable objects. The topic that I found particularly interesting and controversial is bioprinting. As defined in the book, bioprinting “creates living tissue, not inanimate replacement parts.” I find the possibility of printing functioning body organs particularly exciting because it will solve a lot of problems transplantology is now facing, such as donor organ shortage and transplant rejection. Because “bio-ink” will come from the patient’s own cells, the possibility of organ rejection will be minimal. One of the innovators in bioprinting – Organovo company – proves that 3D living tissue printing enables them to “change the shape of medical research and practice” by bypassing clinical drug trials on animals and humans. An informative video explaining  how functional human tissue is created is posted on their official website.

The Bioprinting Process

At the same time when reflecting on the implications of bioprinting, I cannot help but think about various changes it will bring to the psychological attitude towards our bodies and health. Consider the possibility of being able to print new body organs on demand: will it make us more reckless and irresponsible towards our bodies? My other big concern is what happens, when bioprinting is able to print not just functioning organs but complete living creatures? How are we going to deal with ethical issues arising from this new and scary possibility?

Chapter 1: Everything is becoming science fiction

As I start reading the book the opening lines instantly catch my attention: “The smell of freshly baked whole wheat blueberry muffins wafts from the kitchen food printer. The cartridges to make these organic, low-sugar muffins were marketed as a luxury series. The recipes were downloaded from different featured artisan bakers from famous restaurants and resorts. “My imagination turns from printing food to printing clothes and other personal objects. How great would it be if every morning I could print a designer outfit without leaving the house by simply downloading a design file on their official website? Or a customized pair of glasses?

I then keep on reading and find cloud manufacturing particularly interesting. “Cloud manufacturing – like cloud computing – is a decentralized and massively parallel model of production.” If a digitally designed object can be printed almost anywhere, what is really crucial is a good software design of an object. This leads me to think how different occupational landscape will look in probably less than a decade. Medical schools will have a new major in body organs and implants design. Medical students will be required to take classes in 3D printing. The popularization of 3D printing will lead to emergence of a new occupation – digital design professionals specializing in different industries: healthcare, transportation, sports, military equipment, etc.

Chapter 2: A machine that can make almost anything

“Technologies are only as good as people using them.” This quote makes me think of the scale of negative consequences of 3D printing. If in the future almost anyone will able to print anything they want, how can printing guns and drugs be regulated?

Another topic that this chapter makes me think about is Art and 3D printing. On the one hand, 3D printing will turn anyone with an access to computed into a creator, allowing people to customize and update everything that surrounds them ( E.g. furniture, cosmetics, cars) continuously. On the other hand, I believe that one of the unexpected consequences of  3D popularization will be the real appreciation of hand-made products. I truly believe that things created with our hands carry a special energy that another person can feel that will be lacking in objects created with 3D printing technology.

Chapter 3: Nimble manufacturing: Good, fast, and cheap

“I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.”  Paul Anderson

The author debates that 3D printing will eliminate trade-offs between product quality and cost to manufacture. “On a 3D printer it costs the same amount of money to 3D print 1,000 unique products or 1,000 identical products. The cost of customization nearly disappears.” I do not fully understand how the cost of customization almost disappears when the most important component is the design and the more parts a future object will have (including the inner parts), the more complicated the design process will be.

Chapter 4: Tomorrow’s economy of printable products

An interesting question posed in this chapter was whether this new technology will create or destroy jobs. I tend to agree with the author that it will re-shape the occupational landscape. It will boost creativity and make part-time entrepreneurs out of all of us. And I believe that people will still be the most important part of the creation process. Machines, equipment, cyborgs, no matter how advanced they might be,  do not have abstract thinking and imagination and will never fully replace people.