December 15th 2024
Whole Earth Technical, in collaboration with artist Frank Benson and NYCAP3D Scanning Studio, invites you to a dual-studio event that explores the intersections of art and technology, in the service of the informatization of the human figure. Taking place at Frank Benson’s Brooklyn Navy Yard studio and the 3D Scanning Studio across the street, this event offers a unique opportunity to engage critically with Benson’s practice and the technical systems that inform his work.
Frank Benson’s approach to sculpture disrupts conventional understandings of representation, situating his work at the juncture of traditional craft and advanced technological processes. Central to Benson’s practice is the transformation of the human body into data—a process that not only extends the representational possibilities of the figure but also interrogates the ways technology mediates and reconfigures our relationship to embodiment. His sculptures operate within the realm of the uncanny, where the convergence of human likeness and machinic precision produces affective encounters that are simultaneously familiar and disquieting.
This event will feature an in-depth discussion of Benson’s methodologies, including his use of 3D scanning and other technical applications as tools for both analysis and production. At his studio, participants will have the opportunity to view his work and engage with the broader theoretical frameworks that underpin his practice. Across the street at the Adjacent 3D Scanning Studio, a demonstration of the technologies central to Benson’s process will provide additional context for understanding the relationship between the body, data, and representation in his work.
By creating a space for dialogue between the artistic and the technical, this event foregrounds questions about how the digital translation of the human figure can be mobilized for new modes of representation and meaning-making. Benson’s work challenges us to consider the productive potential of informatizing the body, not simply as a method of replication, but as a site of critical inquiry into the aesthetic and cultural implications of such transformations.
This event is hosted by Whole Earth Technical, a multidisciplinary platform dedicated to exploring the intersections of art, technology, and pedagogy through collaborative practices.
