Six Shapes from ''The Shapes Project''

''The Shapes Project'' is a combinatorial system designed by the American artist Allan McCollum, in 2005-2006, to produce unique two-dimensional " shapes." The

system A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment (systems), environment, is described by its boundaries, ...

allows for the making of enough unique shapes for every person on the planet to have one of their own. It also allows the shapes to be kept track of in such a way as to ensure that no two will ever be alike. Following the present rate of birth, it is generally estimated that the

world population In demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently living. It was estimated by the United Nations to have exceeded 8 billion in November 2022. It took over 200,000 years of human prehistory and history for the ...

will grow until it "peaks" in the middle of the present century, and then possibly begin to decline. How many people will be alive at this peak are estimated at between 8 billion and 20 billion people, depending upon what factors are considered and who is doing the considering. The most recent estimate published by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

puts the figure at around 9.2 billion in the year 2050. To make certain that the system will be able to accommodate everyone, it has been organized to produce over 31,000,000,000 different shapes, which is more than the highest population estimates might require.

''Shape'', from ''The Shapes Project'', carved from

Corian Corian is a brand of solid surface material created by DuPont. Its primary use is as a countertop and benchtop surface, though it has many other applications. It is composed of acrylic polymer and alumina trihydrate (ATH), a material derive ...

, with CNC milling equipment.

For the time being, the potential for producing around 214,000,000 of the shapes have been set aside for creative experimentation. These can be used for many different purposes—not only for

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

and

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

projects, but also for various social practices: as

gift A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation ...

s, awards, identity markers,

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

s, insignias,

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

s, toys,

souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

educational game Educational games are games explicitly designed with educational purposes, or which have incidental or secondary educational value. All types of games may be used in an educational environment, however educational games are games that are design ...

s, and so forth. So far, only home computers have been used to construct Adobe Illustrator

vector graphics Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display a ...

files that allow the shapes to be produced in many possible ways. The shapes can be printed graphically as

silhouettes A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...

or outlines, in any size, color or texture, using all varieties of graphics software; or, the files can be used by

rapid prototyping Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printin ...

machines and computer-numerically-controlled (

CNC Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a ...

) equipment—such as routers, laser cutters and waterjet cutters—to build, carve, or cut the shapes from wood, plastic, metal, stone, and other materials. The basic system for making the shapes has been completed, but the project of actually constructing all of them is much too large for any one person to finish in any single person's lifetime. For this reason, the project has been organized in such a way that others may continue completing them in the artist's absence. The shapes are also being made available to others, with the hope that people will come up with many interesting ways to use them. In 2007,

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of the ...

acquired 432 of the "Shapes" for its permanent collection.Se
''The Shapes Project''
, in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Notes

External links

An informational website on the artist: http://allanmccollum.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapes Project Contemporary works of art American contemporary art