As a kinetic sculpture, Not So Random taps into data sourced from the IDEA Factory to represent the ebb and flow of progress–of knowledge–through the form of a line drawing in three dimensions. The wire moves through the Plexiglass case determined by temperature and CO9 levels measured throughout the building. Its shape at any given moment is unpredictable and never the same, determined by the boundaries of the box, the forces of gravity, and the combined environment. Not So Random exists at the intersection of the arts and the sciences, with creative origins in an iterative process–rapid prototyping, coding, 3D printing–pioneered in STEM research and practiced daily in the building’s Angel P. Bezos Rapid Prototyping Lab. In its final and constantly evolving form, Not So Random elegantly reimagines the formal elements–line, shape, composition, medium–of sculpture itself. 

Joshua Prince is a former nuclear-qualified engineer and current MFA candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Not So Random was commissioned through a competitive process led by undergraduate students enrolled in Professor Abigail McEwen’s “Public Art” class in Fall 2024 with support from the Do Good Institute, xFoundry, the College of Arts & Humanities, and the Department of Art History & Archaeology. Special thanks to Sid Garg (‘26), Abigail King (‘27), Dillon Nguyen (‘25), and Rafael Rodríguez (‘24) for their contributions to this project.