Jessica A. Artiles // PROJECT

A-maze-ing MIT: Computer Numerically Controlled Routing as Wall Art

For the weekly project in my Media Lab class, How to Make (almost) Anything, the assignment was to 'Make Something Big'. Morris and I thought of a clever way to disguise all the hanging cables under our TV whilst making an art piece that was engaging and provocative. I used a maze-making software to overlay a maze onto the MIT logo, a symbol of the winding labrynth it is to learn at the 'tute. The twists and turns are appreciated at the lower depths of the work, and it's only from a wider perspective that one can re-focus and appreciate the bigger MIT. I designed the cad in Illustrator, processed it in MasterCAM, and machined it on the magical Onsrud in the woodshop.

How to Make (almost) Anything is the class that gave birth to Fab Labs, now an international movement for makers worldwide. The course is a bootcamp into fabrication technologies (digital and analog) through weekly projects to master a tool/skill/technology per week. I was one of the very few that bit the bullet and continued to work with Neil Gershenfeld, founder and instructor of the class, in the sequel of the class, How to Make Something that Makes (almost) Anything.

Skills

Illustrator
Computer-Aided Manufacturing
CNC Machining
Sanding
Woodworking

Select photos

Trying different maze densities in Illustrator

Processing toolpaths in the MasterCAM Software

Milling on the Onsrud large format machine

A shot of the installation in our living room, neatly repurposing our TV wiring

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