Silk Pavillion – CNC Deposited Silk & Silkworm Construction at the MIT Media Lab

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Created at the Mediated Matter Research Group at the MIT Media Lab, The Silk Pavilion explores the relationship between digital and biological fabrication on product and architectural scales. The primary structure was created of 26 polygonal panels made of silk threads laid down by a CNC (Computer-Numerically Controlled) machine, followed by a swarm of 6,500 silkworms spinning flat non-woven silk patches as they locally reinforced the gaps across CNC-deposited silk fibers.

Inspired by the silkworm’s ability to generate a 3D cocoon out of a single multi-property silk thread (1km in length), the overall geometry of the pavilion was created using an algorithm that assigns a single continuous thread across patches providing various degrees of density. Overall density variation was informed by the silkworm itself deployed as a biological “printer” in the creation of a secondary structure.

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Untangling technology and research at the ECAL Research Day on November 8th

CAN will join (and report from) the ECAL Research Day, an eclectic symposium where artists, designers, and scholars will discuss the entanglement of technology and research.

Document 1. – Symposium Report

Report from the inaugural CAN-curated event series ‘Document #.’ examining new forms of cross-disciplinary art and design practice.

Silk Pavilion II – Mediated Matter Group at the MoMA

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Document 1. – CAN’s new event series examines cross-disciplinary practice

CAN has joined forces with UAL Creative Computing Institute to present the first in a series of events that examine new forms of cross-disciplinary art and design practice. Entitled “Document 1.”, it’s comprised of a workshop, seminar, and symposium, and takes place March 11th–13th at UAL’s Camberwell College of Art in London.

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