2019.12 Setting and Forgetting

This installation looks to spatialize waste at the GSD generated in a culture of rigorous production. We offer the 40 Kirkland gallery as self-storage space for student work as an inexpensive alternative to store personal goods outside the domestic environment and showcase what would otherwise be hidden. Situated within the self-storage units, we criticize the privileging of 3D printing as a mode for model making within the GSD environment. The emergence of 3D printing as a tool for digital representation has facilitated an uncritical approach to model production, where the dedication of space on the third floor of Gund Hall to 3D printers over student desks is emblematic of complacency towards this monoculture. To challenge the institutional pressure that prioritizes this tool, we assem- ble the remnants of 3D prints to create a landscape that revives the tectonic model-making spirit. Through accumulation, this exhibit seeks to highlight the afterlives of models that are largely unseen and forgotten.

Connie Trinh (MLA ‘20), Chelsea Kilburn (MLA ‘20), Jena Tegeler (MLA ‘20), Zhaodi Wang (MLA ‘20), and Dohyun Lee (MArch ‘20) are designers coming from diverse backgrounds that span the disci- plines of anthropology, landscape architecture, engineering, sculpture, and architecture. Collectively, we are interested in exploring the allocation of waste and material at the GSD through our exhibition Setting and Forgetting where we confront the afterlife of model making by transforming 40 Kirkland into a self-storage space occupied by student works.