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Museum of Arts and Design Announces First In-Depth Exhibition Exploring Digital Fabrication in Contemporary Art, Architecture, and Design

Exploring the latest trends in digital fabrication, Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital at the Museum of Arts and Design is the first in-depth survey dedicated to exploring the impact of computer-assisted methods of production on contemporary art, architecture, and design. On view October 15, 2013, through July 6, 2014, this landmark exhibition brings together more than 120 works of sculpture, jewelry, fashion, and furniture by 85 artists, architects, and designers from 20 countries to examine how new technologies are pushing the boundaries of artistic expression and creation. The cutting-edge works highlighted in the exhibition demonstrate the reciprocal relationship between art and technological innovation as well as materials and new techniques—an area of exploration that has long been at the core of MAD’s mission and curatorial program.

Organized by Ronald T. Labaco, MAD’s Marcia Docter Curator, the exhibition features new and recent work from 2005 to the present, including commissions created especially for Out of Hand and objects never been presented before in the U.S., by such artists, architects, and designers as Barry X Ball, Bespoke Innovations, Wim Delvoye, Richard Dupont, Zaha Hadid, Anish Kapoor, Janne Kyttanen, Joris Laarman, Daniel Libeskind, Maya Lin, Greg Lynn, Lucas Maassen, Jürgen Mayer-Hermann, Achim Menges, Marc Newson, Nike, Alan McCollum, Roxy Paine, Frank Stella, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Unfold, among many others. Two large-scale sculptures—a fourteen-foot-high digitally scanned mask of artist Richard Dupont’s face, and a towering abstraction of digitally-recombined wrestling figures created through computer-assisted milling techniques by Michael Rees—will activate the space outside the Museum on Columbus Circle and Broadway to serve as an introduction to the exhibition.

Building on MAD’s practice of making the artistic process accessible in the gallery spaces, audience participation plays a central role in the exhibition. The Museum’s second floor will be equipped with 3D printers, modeling software, and computer monitors, allowing visitors to experiment with the technologies explored in the show. Designers-in-residence working in the gallery will demonstrate various digital techniques and fabrication tools used to create objects like those in the exhibition, and a range of special workshops, public and educational programs that provide visitors with hands-on opportunities to deepen their engagement with 3D software and hardware throughout the exhibition’s run. Also integrated into the installation are video clips that explain individual artistic practices and the divergent approaches toward incorporating digital fabrication in the creative process. Additionally, a number of the featured works include interactive components. www.madmuseum.org