The 98th Japanese Sociological Society Annual Conference, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
The 98th Japanese Sociological Society Annual Conference
Date: 15 Novembmer 2025
Location: Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
Robotic Drawing and Embodiment: Human-machine Collaborative Artistic Practice
Tomoko Tamari
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore the dynamics of human-machine interaction by analysing the interdependency relationship between artists, programmers and computational-drawing robots in artistic practices. In this context, artistic practice can be seen as a case which exemplifies processes of human creativity using tacit knowledge, therefore it is ideal research field for analyzing the implications of the intersection between human creativity and machine intervention.
The recent proliferation of computer-generated imagery has emerged as a pivotal component of contemporary visual culture. Despite the substantial body of research dedicated to digital creative practices, there remains a lack of critical debate on the relation to the material body. This is because the software environment is inherently disembodied. In this light, by emphasizing the significance of the material body, the paper investigates the interactions between a robot (endowed with a physical body) and humans (artists and programmers). The paper adopts a research design that examines the ‘(dis) embodied process’ underpinning machine (robot) and human artistic collaborations, drawing on two relations schemes: ‘intersubjective relations’ (programmer and artist) and ‘mutual agentic relations’ (programmer and robot; artist and robot).
Applying Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy on ‘the body as a general medium for having a world’, the paper focuses on how humans engage in processes of acquiring new meanings and practical knowledge to understand the changing environment through the body, and scrutinizes these processes through the following three key concepts: Mimesis indicates mimicry-based creation of the mutual influences between artists and robots. Affordance (Gibson) helps to understand how artists and programmers accommodate to a given robotic environment. Embodiment reveals the ways that both robots (programmers) and artists mutually master each particular type of environment.
The research employed ethnographic field research, along with semi-structured interviews conducted as part of the UKIR (United Kingdom Research and Innovation) funded on-going research project (https://www.doc.gold.ac.uk/eacva/wp/index.php/computer-science-robotics/).
The research critically examines four selected residence artists with different cultural and political backgrounds who engaged with different styles and formats of artistic practices. All the artists created their artworks using robots. The aim was to explore how artists are influenced and created new styles by experiencing robotic drawing. Interviews with programmers were also conducted to explore how they affect and be affected by the artists and their artistic practices. Through transcribing and analysing interview data, the paper attempts to analyse how their ‘intersubjective relations’ develop and establish ‘mutual agentic relations’ in the course of the project.
The paper concludes by discussing how these processes required not just non-human technical procedures, but also highlighted the crucial role of human agency, perception, self-affectivity and proprioception in the creating a work of machine-human collaborative art.
The Japan Sociological Society (JSS) is a nationwide organization of sociologists with the aim to promote sociological research and facilitate its development. JSS currently has more than 3,600 members and is engaged in such academic activities as organizing academic conferences and publishing journals. It was registered as a general incorporated association on October 25, 2019.