Precipitations

Rubicon ARI & Neon Parlour, Melbourne, 2025

This exhibition explores the idea that failure, chance, and imperfection are inherent to all acts of creation. On display are five unsuccessful attempts to 3D print a sphere—a form traditionally associated with perfection. In each case, a single intervention disrupted the printing process, causing the sphere to collapse and expose the spiralling line that would have completed it. These works challenge the fantasy that 3D printers can flawlessly realise any imagined form. Conceptually, the show also draws on Lucretius’s notion of the clinamen and the emergence of language with and within the mind. The collapsed spheres resemble broken full stops and are accompanied by a ghostly letter ‘A’, signifying the emergence and potential of the alphabet.  

‘A’, digital print, 40 x 40 cm
‘Failed Sphere I-V’, PLA, approx. 10cm diameter
‘No object implies the existence of itself’, obsidian, seven 10cm diameter spheres 

Documentation: Simon Strong
Special thanks to Andrew Dane for his help with the 3D printing and wall support designs.
Special thanks to Kahli and Aaron Perkins at Fullstop Framing for framing ‘A’.