ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a conversation about Models and Prototypes between nina wakeford and jane Prophet. Rapid prototyping (RP) enables the creation of physical objects from computer-aided design packages. It is sometimes known as 3D printing, and the RepRap, cited below, even promises a machine which can replicate a full version of itself. In her recent projects, Jane Prophet has pioneered the use of RP in art practice, and in this conversation she explains how she began to engage with the technologies of simulation and virtuality, and how this led her to investigate the utility of RP for making art. The conversation highlights the very different ways of understanding the potential of the virtual, particularly when an artist becomes involved in interdisciplinary collaborations with mathematicians and scientists. The rapid prototype technology enables the production of an object with, for example, deep undercuts and grooves, which would be too complex to cast, or cut with a Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) cutter.
