“Drawing Operations Unit” is an ongoing project that aims to explore aspects of automation and autonomy; possible forms of collaboration between humans and robots in art; and the independence of actions, through the process of a human and a robotic arm “collaborating” on the simultaneous creation of a single drawing.

While the robotic arm in the previously unveiled Generation 1 was programmed to imitate in real-time the drawing movements of the human hand, Generation 2 featured at this exhibition emphasizes the “robot’s own memory.” Here the movements of the robotic arm reflect the results of a computer’s machine learning process memorizing the artist’s own drawing behavior.

In this age of remarkable developments in artificial intelligence related technologies, AI is increasingly being considered as a danger to human employment. This anxiety is based on the understanding of man and machine as opposing elements. Focusing on cooperation rather than opposition between man and machine, this project aims to teach the machine to acquire its own unique drawing methods, and at once renew man’s understanding of himself.

Support: Project to Support the Nurturing of Media Arts Creators 2016, organized by the Agency of Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Technical Direction: Francis TSENG, Mary FRANCK