Grasping the SocialReconnecting Sociological Theory and Qualitative Research
Joint Mid-Term Conference of the Research Networks on Social Theory and Qualitative Methods of the European Sociological Association
Date: 29th September – 1st October 2025
Location: University of Passau, Germany
Arts and Robotics:
Human-Machine Collaborative Artistic Practices
Tomoko Tamari
Abstract
The recent expansion of computer-generated imagery has become a significant part of visual culture and could transform and create more equal relationship between machines and artists. The paper draws on an UKIR funded on-going research project which critically analyses the collaborative processes between the artists and computational-drawing robots in artistic practice. Although, there has been much research on digital creative practice, there are few debates on its relation to the material body, since almost all types of software are disembodied.
In this light, emphasizing the significance of the material body, the paper focuses on the interactions between a robot (which ‘has’ a body) and humans (artists and programmers) and explores the ‘(dis) embodied process’ of machine (robot) and human artistic collaborative practices through examining the schemes of ‘intersubjective relations’ (programmer and artist) and ‘human-machine relations’ (programmer and robot; artist and robot). Drawing on the notion of ‘body techniques’ which consider not just body movement, but also involve learning new meanings and know-how to understand the given environment, the paper scrutinizes these relations 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.
Finally, the paper argues that these processes require not just non-human technical procedures, rather human agency, perception and proprioception are key factors in creating a work of art.
