Dan Collins
about
I am a Professor of Intermedia within the School of Art at Arizona State University and Director of the PRISM/3DVP lab--an interdisciplinary 3D modeling and rapid prototyping facility. I also coordinate the foundation program in basic art instruction (artCORE) I have served as President of the Board of the Telluride Institute (a high altitude "think and do tank" in Colorado) since 2008. A link to my resume is here.
My work bridges traditional studio concerns and digital media. I am interested in the gap between the virtual space of the computer and the tangible, body-felt reality of sculptural objects. The trajectory of my work is encompassed by what I call "mediated sculpture." At this intersection, the material concerns of the sculptor are in dialogue with the underlying codes and machinic processes of digital media. I see this relationship as dialectical--that is, as a critical synthesis that emerges from two very different ways of seeing and making.
The lessons of applying the tools of digital media to sculptural materials and processes are not limited to the realm of expressive form. There is productive work to be found in interdisciplinary research of all kinds. Much of my focus of the past several years has engaged discipline-based research outside of fine art--e.g., bioengineering, geographic information systems and mapping, and interactive educational media. These pursuits inevitably open up new territory and allow me to see the possibilities of sculptural form with new eyes. They offer different methodologies, different working intentions, different bibliographies and histories. These pursuits outside the realm of "fine art" test the viability and resilience of my own "cultural practices." Please visit the TEXTS and PROJECTS links in these pages for more detailed information about my research.
My work bridges traditional studio concerns and digital media. I am interested in the gap between the virtual space of the computer and the tangible, body-felt reality of sculptural objects. The trajectory of my work is encompassed by what I call "mediated sculpture." At this intersection, the material concerns of the sculptor are in dialogue with the underlying codes and machinic processes of digital media. I see this relationship as dialectical--that is, as a critical synthesis that emerges from two very different ways of seeing and making.
The lessons of applying the tools of digital media to sculptural materials and processes are not limited to the realm of expressive form. There is productive work to be found in interdisciplinary research of all kinds. Much of my focus of the past several years has engaged discipline-based research outside of fine art--e.g., bioengineering, geographic information systems and mapping, and interactive educational media. These pursuits inevitably open up new territory and allow me to see the possibilities of sculptural form with new eyes. They offer different methodologies, different working intentions, different bibliographies and histories. These pursuits outside the realm of "fine art" test the viability and resilience of my own "cultural practices." Please visit the TEXTS and PROJECTS links in these pages for more detailed information about my research.