Mesh Mashup: Refinement ("Soul transfer")

 

"Soul transfer"

"Soul transfer" is a piece that is a representation of the ideas of life, death, and reincarnation. The skull represents death and past life, On the other hand, the head represents life itself and in turn, new life. What blends these 2 things together is the liquid pouring from the eyes of the skull into the head; a movement from the past life to the new, the 'soul' if you will. The black and the white contrast between the liquid pouring is the bad and the good that was done in the past life moving on into the new life. It is a look at the concept of karma but also the balance of yin and yang. The gold liquid in the head represents the purity that occurs when you blend good and bad as all people are born pure, but not perfect.

I used 3 objects from Thingiverse to create this piece, this is what they looked like on the website:

Critique response:

When doing the critique, the work that the majority of people chose as the most interesting for refining was "Soul transfer". The majority of the comments about this piece was that the idea behind it was the most well thought out and the composition created in Tinkercad was solid. There were not really any suggestions for major changes in this piece, mainly just to refine the blend of the tears and the mashing together of the head and the splash of gold liquid.  I found that blending the splash and the head was the hardest part of smoothing out and refining this work in Meshmixer but after many hours of fiddling with the different brushes I was able to finally get a near seamless look if the liquid being in the head!

Relating to Remix culture:

There are many ways in which "Soul transfer" relates to Remix culture. For starters, this piece is a complete remix of the objects used to create it. The objects were not ones I made myself but were instead already in existence with a different purpose to the one I used them for. The head was a popcorn bowl, the skull a decoration, and the liquid made for a gag item of a spilt drink. In my piece, these simple items become a visual of the existential concept of reincarnation. The mashup of these 3 objects is another way in which my piece relates to Remix culture. The mere existence of all these separate objects becoming one gives them a new life, thus becoming a remix. Remix culture, being what it is, has grown many followers and communities that encourage the ideas presented by it. My object, being the mashup that it is, is a participant in this type of community as the objects used to create it are found on Thingiverse. Thingiverse is an online community that is centered around Read/Write culture and encourages the sharing and remixing of every object that is uploaded for public use on its website. Therefore, my object is another remix that can be uploaded and shared, only to be taken apart and remixed again by another individual. 

Though my piece doesn't have a strong use of juxtaposition, I believe that the life and death idea with the unusual placement of liquid in a seemingly human head follows this contrasting concept. The relationship of the objects used within "Soul transfer" have gained a more deeper meaning now that they are interacting with each other. Juxtaposition is prominent in Remix culture as it aids in the changing of the purpose of previously existing objects or medias and brings in a more artistic view of the new things created by those engaging in this culture. The relationship of the objects used within "Soul transfer" have gained a more deeper meaning now that they are interacting with each other.