Vapor Ware

or, the Odors of 3D Printing


Jeffrey Moro

University of Maryland, College Park // @jeffreymoro
proposal

Smell

Preliminary Concepts

  1. Plastics have source material prehistories submerged by polymerization.
  2. The 3D printer engages circuits of manufacturing, and stages a return from the developing world to the tech-forward home.
  3. The 3D printer may be a vapor machine as much as a plastics machine: externalities become sensible subjects.

Plastics

acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) = absolutely wretched

polylactic acid (PLA) =

Our senses are fundamentally physical operations
(although they go through post-processing)

  • cornstarch
  • bamboo
  • tapioca root
  • sugarcane

Polymerization as standardization

Manufacturing

breath

Where we build and where we use are two different hemispheres.

Vapor

FINAL