Keith Brown and meeting the digital halfway: Cartographies of light and sculptural becoming

The impact of AI on art and design - Original Research

Abstract

This article reconsiders British sculptor Keith Brown’s practice through new materialist and postdigital perspectives, focusing on Crest_01 (2012). Centring Brown’s concept of modelling-with, it argues that light is an active mediator linking analogue and digital domains, shifting authorship from an anthropocentric model towards human-nonhuman collaboration across computational and material processes. Using a cartographic methodology, the article maps non-linear moments across Brown’s workflow – analogue material engagement, CAD modelling, and 3D printing – to track changing intra-actions of light, code, and matter. It shows how algorithmic form becomes perceptible through screen illumination and is materialised through light- and heat-driven fabrication, where coded geometries are enacted layer by layer. Close analysis of Crest_01 demonstrates how light activates translucency, duration, and spatial perception, positioning the sculpture as a performative event rather than a static object. The article proposes digital matter as an agentic force and suggests modelling-with light as a framework for rethinking sculptural practice and creative collaboration under pervasive technological mediation.