In the Age of Automation

MFA Thesis 2019

Using various emerging fabrication methods such as 3D printmaking, CNC Machining, Robotics, and Computer Programing to create sculpture, this body of work examines our contemporary relationship to technology, leisure, and employment.    

Automation, mobile internet and artificial intelligence is fundamentally upending traditional ideas and cultural norms in regards to nearly every aspect of our contemporary lives. In some ways these technological advancements have helped to improve and enrich our lives, and in other ways these advancements are affecting vast sections of our economy by replacing human labor. Within this body of work, I am investigating labor through the lens of leisure, in order to create a conversation about how sharing one’s leisurely self interest may become a viable type of gainful employment. In the near future, we will begin to face mass technological unemployment and it is my aim that this conversation about economics, empathy, technology and automation provides insight to the possibility that our contemporary cultural understanding of “work”, may need to be adjusted.