Centre Pompidou Explores 3D Printing and Ross Lovegrove's Digital Materiality

The Centre Pompidou in Paris presents two summer exhibitions under its Mutations/Créations program: 'Imprimer le monde' and 'Convergence' by Ross Lovegrove. 'Imprimer le monde' showcases 3D printing in design, opening with Jean-Baptiste Fastrez's bow and arrows made of lime wood and PLA, a biodegradable polymer from corn starch. The exhibition emphasizes 3D printing as a process for rethinking production modes, focusing on gravity/density relationships. 'Convergence' presents Lovegrove's work, which he summarizes as DNA: Design, Nature, Art, linking digital technologies, materials science, and organic forms. Lovegrove analyzes natural phenomena—from dolphin tail vertebrae to ginkgo leaves—to create networks, fibers, and structures that scale from solar cars to eyeglasses. Both exhibitions raise questions about technology's role in design and human interaction. Critic Charles-Arthur Boyer notes the lack of social interaction in the first show and unresolved questions about whether design should serve technological processes or human emancipation.