Mount Royal, 2006
Ryan Hoover is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher actively addressing the impact of emerging technologies on our more-than-human world. Often operating at the intersection of digital and biological systems, he develops software, hardware, and biomaterials to create novel solutions to contemporary issues and open new understandings of our shared future
Skill Building
A series of technical exercises build and demonstrate skills in Rhino, laser cutting, 3D printing, and CNC routing.
Project I: Arborescent Algorithms
The Arborescent Algorithms series operates at the intersection of nature and code. These tree forms are created by an algorithm that the artist has written to simulate natural growth patterns. A practically infinite number of unique trees can be made, and the inputs to the system can be adjusted to simulate a wide range of species. In addition to creating lovely forms, this process is designed to explore the degree to which natural systems can be coded. This work serves as research for the ongoing bio-printing project which aims to print with tree cells. Operating at a degree of abstraction, this series also explores the idea of writing or rewriting natural code through genetic modification.
Process
The trees were created with an algorithm I wrote in Grasshopper, then 3D printed in nylon. The walnut and the aluminum panels were milled on a CNC router. The dimensional aluminum was milled on the Haas vertical mill.
Research
Systems Esthetics
In the emergent “superscientific culture” long-‐range decision-‐making and its implementation become more difficult and more necessary. Judgment demands precise socio-‐technical models. Earlier the industrial state evolved by filling consumer needs on a piecemeal basis. The kind of product design that once produced “better living” precipitates vast crises in human ecology.
