Functional sculpture in the context of design art

Throughout history, the "death of art" has been declared many times, followed by attempts to redefine the "realm of art" with new contexts and meanings. The same situation applies to the fundamental discipline of sculpture. With the influence of the postmodern era, sculpture has entered a process beyond traditional sculptural understanding and its boundaries have begun to expand in an indeterminable manner. The impact of this expansion in the field of sculpture can be approached through various manifestations, such as works encompassing different disciplines, applications where different disciplines benefit from sculpture, or hybrid areas emerging from the close relationship between sculpture and other disciplines. Functional sculpture is one of the diverse types of applications resulting from this expansion. The research is divided into two branches: theoretical and practical. The theoretical research is divided into two main sections. The first section delves into the historical origins of design art as a hybrid field where art and design intersect. It discusses movements that characterize collaborative works between the fields of art, craft, and design. Additionally, contemporary and postmodern concepts of art, which expand the boundaries of art, are also discussed in this section. The second section focuses on research and examples of design art dating back to the 21st century. Furthermore, it presents artists who produce functional sculpture and their works as examples. The third section, which forms the practical foundation of the study, showcases personal applications of functional sculpture designed based on four different practical functions: lighting, seating, storage, and display. Descriptive and general analyses of these applications are conducted. The primary objective of this research is to contribute to the conceptualization of functional sculpture as a field. For this purpose, the main methodology of the thesis is the "research through art" approach proposed by Christopher Frayling for art and design research. Through this method, which intertwines practice and research, the aim is to be achieved. As a result of the applications conducted concurrently with the research, the following definition for functional sculpture has been reached: Functional sculpture refers to sculptures that offer practical value based on functional use, positioned at the intersection of craft, design, and art, considered as a subcategory of design art, and produced based on the principle of simultaneity.