E/merging patterns

duo Khurtova & Bourlanges, 2011

realized at the European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC)

5 pieces of 28 x 62 cm – Bone China – CAD/CAM prototyping

The project E/merging patterns challenges the Normativity of systems: a care for order, from which one can't withhold (social, cellular or temporal system), and provides an access to an aesthetic of cancer, ‘beyond well and ill’. 

The artists study group of cells that emerge as a new system within a normal ‘baseline’ system. By applying the behavior of cancer cells (uncontrolled growth and invasion) as design parameters, Khurtova and Bourlanges offer an experience of the body that begins where the usefulness of healthy bodies ends. 

The work consists of a series of 5 bone china cast objects, and depicts a flat garment pattern, in order to give a dry representation of the body. The flat surfaces are distorted with extruded patterns, relating to different organs or inner body systems. Those patterns are generated from detailed 3D mapping of tumor growth, by the use of algorithmic software implementing uncontrolled growth parameters. The obtained structures are manufactured by CNC milling machine, in order to produce mother-molds for plaster molding and precise slipcasting.

Realized at the EKWC, this project merges the material sensitivity of ceramics and the precision of CAD/CAM technology.

text by Mark Leegsma