
3-D Printed Statues in Central Park Shine a Light on Women Scientists - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/blog/3_d-printed-statues-shine-a-light-on-women-scientists-in-central-park
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mikepurvis
Hopefully there's a sane way to recover/recycle the plastic used in these
kinds of larger prints, especially if it starts to see widespread commercial
application— thinking character statues in cinema lobbies to replace cardboard
cutouts. I suppose it's nothing compared to all the plastic popcorn buckets
and drink lids, but it still feels like it would be significant if they were
printing a new display for each new major release.

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Stinkosaurus
Really? People are trying to raise awareness of underrepresented people and
your concern is about the plastic they used for a few statues? So we should
use cardboard for statues of black people while all the white dudes get stone
and metal?

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mikepurvis
I think it's great; I said that elsewhere in the thread. I'm just
acknowledging that should this become a more widespread trend, it would be
nice to figure out a full lifecycle for these prints upfront rather than after
thousands of them have been sent to landfill.

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daenz
There isn't a shortage of women who have made huge contributions in STEM. I
would think if their goal was to inspire, they would have chosen from them,
instead of everyday workers. It strikes me as kind of weird to erect statues
of everyday people.

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greeneggs
I think they wanted to pick relatable scientists, not just inspirational ones.
Ironically, this itself has inspirational effects. I know that I myself was
more inspired by stories from average physicists than by Einstein or Feynman.
It says that you don't have to be a super-genius or super-lucky to follow your
science dreams.

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slap
It seems that none of the 6 scientists passed the notability criteria of
Wikipedia? I can't seem to find their Wikipedia page.

I would have made more sense to pick famous female scientists maybe?

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WalterGR
From the article:

 _Their subjects are still living. They depict women of color who are working
scientists. Their images are intended to inspire girls to pursue STEM
(science, technology, engineering, and math) careers. In the language of the
sponsoring project, #IfThenSheCan: “if she can see it, then she can be it.”_

More about the goals of the project: [https://www.aaas.org/news/125-women-
stem-selected-aaas-ifthe...](https://www.aaas.org/news/125-women-stem-
selected-aaas-ifthen-ambassadors)

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monadic2
Overall, it doesn't feel great we delegated these statues to 3d printing.

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mikepurvis
It's a good start, though. :) And for a temporary, pop-up exhibition, it's
neat to demonstrate an application for 3D printing.

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monadic2
A good start to what end? Who gives a shit about 3D printing when it comes to
making statues? The point is obviously not to pimp the technology.

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mikepurvis
The "good start" is that an individual or small group were able to go from
concept to display in a shorter period of time with these, and for relatively
low cost. Hopefully there's interest and support for redoing one or more of
them in permanent materials. I can definitely see this as a more promising
start than spending years in committees fighting over the details and funding
for a conventional statue that might never see the light of day.

Anyway, this is just a preview— the full exhibition includes 122 such statues.
So it's also a good start in that regard. :)

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monadic2
Since when has art been judged on time to creation or volume or cost? This
seems to be solving a problem sculpting doesn't have to begin with. I agree
that this could be a boon to creation but I hardly see these samples as decent
examples....

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mikepurvis
The point is the art that never has a chance to be judged because it never
gets created on account of these barriers.

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monadic2
I consider that an emphatic benefit looking at these statues. Why couldn't
they have hired a sculptor?

