VASE UNBROKEN - Another Failed Attempt to Reconstruct

 

A sculpture that simulates a vase as it breaks and tries to reconstruct itself.

A vase is a temporary structure: material arranged around an empty space, holding that space in a particular form.

When it breaks, it stops being a vase and becomes something else: a field of fragments, trajectories, detritus, and changing relationships. It becomes material for the future.

In VASE UNBROKEN, the fragments of the former vase never get to move on. They are held inside the moment of breaking. Rather than presenting the aftermath of destruction, the sculpture inhabits the event itself. The fragments travel outward through physical space and then return, tracing an attempted reversal of what has already occurred.

The vase is never fully reconstructed. Its form becomes visible, approaches coherence, and falls away again. The sculpture can repeat the event and run its motions backward, but it cannot undo it.

The work exists inside this contradiction: the persistent desire to recover a former whole and the impossibility of returning to it. Its failure is not a malfunction. The event can be replayed, but not reversed.

 
 
 

STUDIO UPDATE — OCTOBER 26, 2026

Four axes prototyped, two to go. Meanwhile, the digital sculpture is much further along.

VASE UNBROKEN is progressing on several fronts simultaneously. The sculpture exists in three overlapping stages: a detailed digital model, physical working prototypes, and eventually the final machined aluminum sculpture.

The digital design is considerably further along than the physical construction. I'd estimate that the 3D CAD model is roughly 75% complete, including much of the detailed mechanical engineering: motors, transmissions, bearings, structural components, and provisions for wiring.

It's not simply a model of what the sculpture will look like. It's an engineering model from which the actual parts are being made.

The physical prototypes are catching up with that design. Four of the six axes on the first arm have now been built and prototyped. I'm using primarily 3D-printed resin components, which allow me to test mechanisms, make adjustments, and refine the design before committing to expensive machined parts.

One important aspect of this process is that the digital model, prototypes, and final fabrication aren't strictly sequential. They inform each other continuously. As I build and test mechanisms, I discover things that need to change in the model. I expect that process to continue right up until the sculpture is completed.

CURRENT PROGRESS

  • Overall sculpture layout and mechanical architecture established

  • Detailed 3D engineering model — approximately 75% complete

  • First four axes mechanically prototyped

NEXT TASKS

  • Complete axes five and six

  • Integrate and test the first complete six-axis arm

  • Build the remaining six arms and central hub

  • Integrate all seven arms and develop coordinated motion

  • Build and integrate the vertical movement mechanism

  • Fabricate final aluminum components

  • Final assembly and extended reliability testing

WHAT COMES NEXT

The immediate goal is to finish the remaining two axes and get one complete six-axis arm operating as a coordinated system.

Once that arm is working reliably, I'll build six more in the studio, along with the central hub that holds all seven. At that point, we'll have a working version of nearly the entire sculpture, allowing me to develop and verify the motion, programming, and interactions between the arms.

I expect that stage to resolve most of the remaining mechanical design and control questions, although the physical construction of the permanent sculpture will still lie ahead.

The last major mechanism will move the entire assembly vertically, bringing the sculpture to a total of 43 independently controlled axes. I expect to build that mechanism largely as a single working assembly, rather than going through the same extensive prototype-and-rebuild process as the arms.

Finally, once the complete system has been tested and refined, I'll have the structural components manufactured in aluminum and assemble the durable, finished sculpture.

There is still a considerable amount of work ahead, but much of the fundamental engineering is already in place. The next phases are increasingly about turning that design into a working, reliable physical object.

I'll continue documenting the process here as the sculpture develops.