Theo Harper

Theo Harper is an artist and researcher based in Northumberland, UK. His practice spans site-specific installation, object-based sculpture, video, and photography. His work interrogates material and processes, intuitively inventing ways to release an expressive making narrative. It is a constant inquiry: born out of repetitive, time consuming and layered techniques. By mastering different making systems, it is possible to break apart pre-existing realities with clay always at the centre. Theo studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London and has shown work nationally and internationally and taken part in various residencies.

3D Printing backwards

By holding on to the idea of origin, understood as hand-printing clay (a variation on hand coiling), Theo Harper aims to rethink our interactions with technology and automated making. His sculptural practice required a conduit between the different processes involved within computer aided design (CAD) and 3D Printing, so that the physical experience of hand-printing clay can be better digitally expressed. Today, the ethical development of these technological parameters is paramount, as our entire made environment is created through interactions with computers: it is environmental, geological, and political. The investigation is not defined by boundaries of discipline but can be changed and understood as the material clay itself can, as something that is malleable. By working with computer programmers to create disruptive innovations that affect the framework of how our fabricated environment is designed, it is possible to 3d print in reverse, allowing the digital to be touched.