It’s not every day that an art museum adds a gun to its permanent collection. But the Victoria and Albert Museum in London — self-described as “the world’s greatest museum of art and design” — did just that as it acquired the first 3D-printed gun for its permanent collection.
The Liberator, created by Defense Distributed, will make its debut at the museum’s London Design Festival along with other new objects. Compared to the other acquisitions, ranging from a chest of drawers to chairs, the item may stir up controversy — not only amongst critics of the DIY gun but also museum supporters.
See also: World's First 3D-Printed Gun Fired on Video
Defense Distributed shared the information for printing the Liberator online but had to take down that data on orders from the State Department. In our video, an independent printer named Travis Lerol described the process of creating his own Liberator — it required a printer that cost $1,300, but the actual manufacturing only took two days and about $20 to $30. Lerol continued to tweak the model to get it to fire, but Defense Distributed's own model was shown to work successfully.
Dezeen magazine reproduced a full statement from the museum, which described the 3D-printed gun as significant because it “sparked intense debate and upended discussions about the benefits of new manufacturing technologies and the unregulated sharing of designs online.” The museum received two guns along with one model taken apart and “a number of archive items.”
Defense Distributed’s founder, Cody Wilson, told Forbes that he sees the gun’s display in an art and design museum as positive because “it will now be this curated, permanent cultural provocation.”
The nine-day Design Festival runs until Sept. 22 and includes a number of installations, talks and workshops.
Do you think the 3D-printed gun belongs in an art museum? Let us know in the comments, below.
BONUS: I 3D Printed a Gun
Image: Mashable