Dear_Tony

<p><em>Dear_Tony</em> (2013) is an unauthorized, distributed retrospective of the public sculptures of Tony Smith by Christian de Vietri and A.E. Benenson.</p> <p>Addressed as much to the deceased sculptor and his practice as our contemporary audience, <em>Dear_Tony</em> rethinks the artist’s historic investigations into modular construction, phenomenology, and public space within the contexts of digital fabrication, interactivity, and networked communication. At the same time, <em>Dear_Tony</em> is a means to reflect on the form of the retrospective and how its requirements may be adapted to contemporary conditions of viewership.</p> <p><em>Dear_Tony</em> consists of a digital sculpture by Christian de Vietri, which is composed of extractable models of every Tony Smith public sculpture, and is archived in several 3D file formats (.stl, .obj, .3ds); photographic documentation of a 3D printed version of de Vietri’s sculpture; as well as a text by A.E. Benenson on the public disposition of Smith’s sculptures in contemporary digital culture.</p> <p>All the files in the retrospective are considered open-source and can be experienced, edited, and shared by anyone.</p> <p><em>Dear_Tony</em> is available in several different formats on multiple digital platforms: as a 3D printable file with documentation on Shapeways and as a downloadable package of files available as a Torrent on PirateBay and for direct download.</p>