What engineers were to the industrial revolution, designers are now to the next industrial revolution as illustrated in an interactive exhibition called The Machine.

The Creative Factory
 by Thomas Vailly and Itay Ohaly

The Machine – Designing a New Industrial Revolution, is an exhibition being presented at C-Mine, in Genk, Belgium now until October 7, 2012.

Line 01 by Itay Ohaly (background above) is a set of light, low tech machinery. By free carving, roto-molding and cutting, varied objects are produced. In this process, the packaging of an object is used as its mold, which defines and influences the object’s form and texture. The act of opening the mold is transferred from the manufacturer to the customer, who is given the preliminary experience of revealing the object.

Say the organizers, “The industrial revolution was a revolution of engineers. Now, it is designers who are ushering in a new revolution. Designers work in networks that enable them to develop new materials, their own machines and systems.”

Line 02 by Thomas Vailly is a versatile and low tech way to produce fluid and organic plastic shapes. Latex sheets are like numeric surfaces, and can be stretched, scaled and blown to create an infinity of fluid volumes. Line 02 is a dialog between 3D-modeling, rapid prototyping, craftsmanship and design.

“They are seeking out ways of producing and distributing their work themselves. These developments offer an alternative to mass production, but also point to different ways of organising our economy and society.”

Flat Form by Christian Fiebig transforms virtual shapes into tangible objects. Virtual 3D forms are converted, via a computer program, into flat-geometries. Fiebig then uses these flat-geometries as guidelines to (re)construct the original virtual shape, in a paper form.

Flat Form by Christian Fiebig

SpiderFarm by Thomas Maincent is a factory that reconstructs the environmental conditions of a spider’s natural habitat. Within the ‘farm’ the spiders spin silk for human use.

SpiderFarm by Thomas Maincent

SpiderFarm video by Thomas Maincent

Repair it Yourself by Eugenia Morpurgo, equips the user with the tools and materials necessary to fix a pair of broken shoes. This project is an interactive installation that attempts to generate and disseminate repair-based skills.

The Idea of a Tree by Mischer’Traxler is a machine that constructs an object, determined by ecological cycles. Over a 24-hour period the machine uses threads to produce a product, with the colour depicting the amount of solar energy harnessed. The object becomes a record of the environmental particularities that enabled its production.

The Idea of a Tree by Mischer’Traxler

For Unfold, the development of new manufacturing techniques have the potential to shift power, from industrial producers and those regulating infrastructure, to the consumer. Their L’Artisan Electronique, explores the intersection of pottery – one of the oldest artisanal techniques – and new digital media. L’Artisan Electronique is a ceramic 3D printer (that imitates the traditional coiling technique used by ceramicists) and a ‘virtual pottery wheel’ – a digital tool to ‘turn’ forms and objects in virtual space.

L’Artisan Electronique video by Unfold

Itay Ohaly’s Group Project is a non-linear design method in which objects are divided and broken into different parts. Each part is developed by a designer, according to a specific theme and set of instructions. The designers create their part without communicating to the other designers. Following a phase of adjustments, all parts are assembled creating a surprising, unexpected result. For the ‘Machine’ exhibition, nine designers collaborated to create three objects. These objects were designed according to the theme of C-mine.

+ the-machine.be