blog
12/23/2008
say hi to hektor
Posted by Zadi Diaz


Hektor, this week's Artist of the Week, is a spray painting device created by Jurg Lehni and Uli Franke. They were looking to create a contrast between the low-tech wobbles and drips of a real object and the high-tech engineering instructing the device.

Hektor, originally created for Lehni's diploma project at Ecal, is pretty light in weight. Consisting of only two motors, a belt and a spray can holder, it can move around the canvas pretty effortlessly. The idea is to go beyond the limitations of a printer and experiment with space and design.

What's cool is that the software used for Hektor is totally open source. Lehni created a scripting plugin for Adobe Illustrator called Scriptographer and made it available to other artists and designers.

The central idea behind Hektor, and what makes it art beyond the art that it's making, is that it allows us to think outside of the box. When we print things out, what are other ways that it can be done. Sometimes the thinking behind the thing, is what is most inspiring of all.

To learn more about Hektor and its inventors, make sure to drop by their site, hektor.ch.