From Graphic Translation to Spatial Generation: Digital Fabrication, Glass Materiality, and Viewer Experience in Contemporary Glass Art

Digital technologies are increasingly reshaping contemporary visual art, not only through artificial intelligence and generative systems but also through material-based artistic practices. While existing scholarship has extensively explored computational creativity, digital aesthetics, and AI-generated imagery, less attention has been paid to how digital fabrication transforms artistic practice through its interaction with physical materials and spatial perception. This paper addresses this issue through a practice-based investigation of contemporary glass art. Drawing upon the author’s long-term artistic practice, the study examines two interconnected projects: the Glass Calligraphy Series and the Spatial Cutting Series. The first project explores how traditional Chinese calligraphy is translated into glass through digital drawing, vector-based design, and waterjet fabrication, revealing how artistic agency is redistributed among artist, software, fabrication systems, and material processes. The second project investigates how layered glass structures generate spatial depth, optical relationships, and embodied viewing experiences. The paper argues that digital fabrication should not be understood merely as a technical tool. Instead, it functions as a creative framework that reconfigures artistic agency, activates the material and spatial qualities of glass, and transforms viewer experience. By examining the intersection of computation, material practice, and visual perception, this paper proposes a broader understanding of digital fabrication as an integral component of contemporary visual art. It argues that digital technologies are not external instruments applied to artistic production but active agents in the formation of artistic methods, material relationships, and aesthetic experience.