Sumi-Nagashi
Shunsuke YOSHIDA†

Mitsuhiro KAKITA† Haruo NOMA† Jun KURUMISAWA†‡†ATR, Media Information Science Laboratories‡Chiba University of Commerce

Nobuji TETSUTANI†Abstract

3 Goals“Sumi-Nagashi” is an original and traditional Japanese art, similar
to “marbling.” Attendees will experience the streaming
picturesque installation of “Sumi-Nagashi” literally and physicallyby using a newly developed desk-style force feedback device,“Proactive Desk.” Dynamic visual and haptic changes of colors
and shapes will arouse new inspiration in painters.

The importance of corporeality in the field of art is well known by
all artists. Creators understand it intuitively. An attractive piece ofart can be created by deeply understanding and interacting withmaterials and tools through physical contact, and this is thestarting point of creation. However, today’s “Digital Artists” have
had to sense those feelings unnaturally using nonexistent tools andvirtual materials. This means they have had to accomplish thesame creation using only limited human sensations unlike in otherclassic arts. This may lead you to think that there is a limitation tomulti-creativity and no necessity for human nature in the field ofdigital or media art in comparison with other fields of art.
However, it would be hasty to say that there is no future in thisfield. On the contrary, there is a great potential that we have neverexperienced hidden in this field. It is only immature.

1 Introduction
The digital revolution has also drastically changed the field of art.
All artists desire the cutting edge of technology in their tools. So,
today’s most modernistic tool for expression is naturally thecomputer. However, most forms of expression by the present
computer technology appeal only to the visual and auditory senses.
So, the corporeality of the creator, which is indispensable forcreation, is left behind. In this demonstration, we bring tactile
sensation, which is impossible to display by other digital tools, tothe field of digital art with our advanced force feedback device.
We want to search for the possibility of a new style of art that iscreated through the application of “Sumi-Nagashi.”This demonstration is one of the first steps to adopt corporeality
into the digital world. We will show you a new potential for art
harmonizing the visual and the haptic.

2 Overview
Guests of this demonstration are able to enjoy creating a fluid,
picturesque installation that changes moment by moment througha digital canvas and fixed pen. A kind of field with a virtual
stream of flowing colors and physical forces is generated on thecanvas. The strengths and directions of the stream are different ineach place, in other words, they also depend on the picture of thebase. When the user puts a new color in the field, the color iscarried away by the nearby colors’ properties, and a new picture iscreated by mixing with the picture of the base. The user can enjoy
the process of creating a picture not only with a visual sensation,such as colors, but also with a tactile sensation, such as the feelingof the drawing through the pen and the hands. Experiences that let
the user understand the viscosity of the virtual colors of eachpainting through the digital pen and feel the texture of the virtual
canvas corporeally are the most creative points of thisdemonstration. This will give painters an opportunity to realize
again how important the creativity existing in the sense of touch isfor art.
As a digital canvas, we use a “Proactive Desk,” which is a new
digital desk with a force feedback function developed by us[Noma et al. 2003]. The Proactive Desk has the shape of a usual
desk, and a desktop image of a PC is projected onto it from anoverhead projector. The mechanism that produces the forces ofthe Proactive Desk is completely concealed in the canvas. Thismeans that the user can operate the pen seemingly like operating
an ordinary tablet. The Proactive Desk is able to generate the twodimensional forces required by desktop operation easily without
any mechanical link structures, which tend to disturb theprojection of the desktop image and the view during tasks. This is
the technically innovative point proposed in this demonstration.
†e-mail: {shun, mitsu, noma, tetsutani}@atr.co.jp
e-mail: kurumi@cuc.ac.jp‡Figure 1. Sumi-Nagashi.
Left: Scenery of an interaction with the installation. Upper-Right:
Image with a virtual stream of flowing colors and physical forces(painted by Jun Kurumisawa). Lower-Right: Core of the LinearInduction Motor to feedback forces to the user.
Acknowledgment This research was conducted as a part of“Research on interaction media for high-speed and intelligent
networking,” with funding from the Telecommunications
Advancement Organization of Japan.

References
ZEKI , S. 2000. Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and the Brain,
Oxford University Press, Feb. 2000.
NOMA, H., YANAGIDA, Y., AND TETSUTANI, N. 2003. Developmentof a New Force Display System for a Digital Desk Using a 2DOF Linear Induction Motor, IEEE VR2003, Mar. 2003.