3D-Printed Gun To Appear In London Museum
What’s the Latest Development?
This week London’s Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum announced that it has purchased two of the original Liberator 3D-printed guns, plus some components, from their creator and Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson. The guns will be displayed as part of the museum’s London Design Festival, which began this weekend. Wilson says they were both fired during early testing cycles, which may be why the museum chose to pay for them rather than print a version of their own using online blueprints.
What’s the Big Idea?
According to V&A curator Kieran Long, the controversy surrounding the weapon — which can be printed by anyone with the right equipment — helped pique the museum’s interest. “[U]gly and sinister objects demand the museum’s attention just as much as beautiful and beneficial ones do…[M]useums should be topical, responding quickly to world events when they touch our areas of expertise.” For his part, Wilson says that while he hadn’t thought of his weapon as a potential art display, “it has an artistic sensibility about it. It’s…proof of the direction of of our technical future.”
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com
