Automated Suminagashi - Distorsion 1

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Arnaud Pfeffer

2022

8"x10"

Description

Automated Suminagashi – Distorsion 1 belongs to a series in which Arnaud Pfeffer explores how a delicate handicraft—namely, the ancient Japanese paper marbling technique known as suminagashi—can be replicated with contemporary computerized techniques.

Trained as an industrial designer and influenced by maker culture, Pfeffer brings a problem-solving mindset to his artistic practice. Since beginning the series in 2022, he has adapted robots and plotters to perform actions traditionally carried out by hand.

Suminagashi—Japanese for “floating ink”—involves alternating two brushes, one with ink and the other with soapy water, on the surface of still water before transferring the resulting pattern onto paper. For the Automated Suminagashi series, Pfeffer developed a robotic attachment for a plotter that performs this alternating motion, after which the marbled image is transferred onto paper using the traditional method.