October 2026. In a new interview for Vitrine, writer and curator Nadine Rubin Nathan speaks with Gill Gatfield following her artist residency in Italy and 2026 National Small Sculpture Prize. From Carrara’s marble traditions, Etruscan inscriptions and classical mythology to pressing questions of AI, embodiment and sovereignty, the conversation explores how ancient forms and contemporary technologies inform new sculptural possibilities. Gatfield’s emerging Computational Sculpture and ongoing Ephemeral Monuments enquiry are situated within a nearly three-decade experimental practice, tracing an arc from early robotic painting in 2002 to the interplay of ancient intelligence, beauty and digital systems today.
“What can sculpture tell us about the world we are becoming? ... the answer lies where ancient stone encounters artificial intelligence and histories embedded in objects open onto uncertain futures.” – Nadine Rubin Nathan