14 DAY TRIAL // 3D printing is great for all sorts of things, even if the technology is not yet where it could be. Inventors and hobbyists can create all sorts of things that they wouldn't have had the chance or budget to do otherwise. But, just as interesting, if not more so, is what artists are starting to do with the new medium.
Particularly the generation of artists that grew up with computers and who are accustomed to their creations only living in the digital space.
Now, they have the ability to create something physical, but using the same methods and tools they always have. What's more, these artists are finding that the physical world has other advantages, like the ability to merge art and practicality.
Japanese artist Aki Inomata decided that her artwork could do more than just be displayed. So her creations take life, quite literally, serving as the temporary homes of hermit crabs.
"The hermit crabs wearing the shelters I built for them, which imitate the architecture of various countries, appeared to be crossing various national borders. Though the body of the hermit crab is the same, according to the shell it is wearing, its appearance changes completely," she explained.
Hermit crabs normally inhabit the shells of other animals or, more recently, whatever scraps and garbage they find littering the ocean floor, which is how they got their name. When they grow out of a "home," they find a new one.
So printing them new houses made a lot of sense. The printed shells contain the architecture of various cities around the world: Tokyo, New York, and so on. The crabs got several options to choose from and picked their favorite. Whatever they chose though, it's very likely they were the envy of their crab friends, as none of them had such snazzy homes to boast about.