Final Project – Untitled – Cristian Barrera – art 350

Project Description

For my final project I wanted to create an object that would be a reference to the brutality in Mexico that is perpetuated by the crime organizations as well as through government collusion. While the object is supposed to be recognized as a sort of recreation of the brutal killing methods used by the cartel, my main intent is to create a dialogue about the thousands of people that essentially cease to exist. One of my main inspirations for creating this project was the film Ruido by Natalia Baristain, which follows a mother in search of her missing daughter. To me this sentiment of people just holding out for any sign of their missing loved ones resonated with me because it’s just insane to me how someone can just vanish without a trace. Through exploration of unconventional materials available in terms of 3D printing I ended up finding PVA filament and I was able to incorporate its ephemeral qualities in one of my objects to try and create a similar sentiment to the real-life disappearances. PVA is usually used as the support for 3D printed objects but because it dissolves in water, it’s usually not useful as a main material. The plastic I used on the figures head not only serves as a way to hide the figure’s “identity” but also serves as a way to leave some sort of trace of the figure. Lastly the container was originally supposed to be enclosed but transparent but due to some technical issues it turned out only partially made. However, it ultimately worked more in my favor because I was able to get better angles on the actual figure disappearing. Because my piece very much depends on what state it is in when being observed and how people might react to it, it’s really more of a performative piece than anything.

Designing Techniques

Working in Blender (Posing/Scaling)

To design my objects, it really depended on how the PVA material reacted when being exposed to water, I found through some prototype/testing that the dissolving depended mainly on the scale of the PVA but also the amount of water. With that in mind I designed the figure so that it wouldn’t make any direct reference to any person, keeping more of an ambiguity on who the person is. Blender was a useful modeling tool because it allowed me to pose my figure in the kneeling position as well as design a container that would best fit around the figure’s pose and size.

Finished Prints