🌸点字デジタルアートと浮世絵版画の共通性Common Ground Between Braille Digital Art and Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints.🌸
There’s an essential commonality between the “instructions” (sashizu) in ukiyo-e woodblock prints and the production process of Braille Digital Art.
Understanding this shared ground between the sashizu of ukiyo-e and Braille Digital Art is a very effective way to explain its innovative nature while also placing it within the lineage of traditional artistic creation.。
1. The Conversion from “Non-Visual Information” to a “Final Form”
Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints:
The artist envisions the colors in their mind and conveys them as “non-visual” or limited visual information through instructions (sashizu) written in red ink on a black-and-white print. The printer then uses these instructions to create the final, multi-color ukiyo-e print. The final form is not directly visible from the instructions alone.
Braille Digital Art:
A visually impaired artist conveys the images they have in their mind, or the information they’ve grasped through touch and sound, using words and concepts. An AI then analyzes these “non-visual” words and concepts and gives them form as a multi-sensory art piece that can be “touched, heard, and seen.”
In both cases, there’s a commonality: the final form is not directly apparent from the initial instructions.
2. The Fusion of a “Division of Labor” and “Craftsmanship”
Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints:
A single work is born from the collaboration of the artist’s sensibility and instructions, the carver’s technical skill in carving, and the printer’s printing technique and sense of color. Each craftsman fully applies their expertise while interpreting the artist’s intent.
Braille Digital Art:
A multi-sensory work is created through the collaboration of the visually impaired artist’s sensibility, the AI engineer’s technical skills, technologies like Braille printers and sound technology, and in some cases, the cooperation of a sighted artist or designer. The AI serves as a modern “digital-age craftsman (tool),” and its technology and processing power are essential for giving form to the artist’s vision.
3. The Importance of “Communication” and “Interpretation”
Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints:
The quality of the final work depended on how clear the artist’s instructions (sashizu) were and how accurately the carver and printer could interpret that intent and express it with their skills.
Braille Digital Art:
It’s crucial how the visually impaired artist chooses the words and expressions to convey their image to the AI and how the AI then interprets that information to generate the art. This creates a new process of communication and interpretation between a human and an AI.
4. Creativity within “Constraints”
Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints:
Within the constraints of a limited number of colors, the limitations of the woodblock, and the technology of the time, artists and craftsmen showed maximum creativity to produce innovative expressions.
Braille Digital Art:
The challenge is to unlock the artist’s creativity and create a new art experience within specific constraints, such as the expressive limitations of tactile art, the current technical limitations of AI, and the output constraints of Braille printers.
In this way, the artist’s “instructions” in ukiyo-e woodblock prints and the artist’s “communication of intent” in Braille Digital Art share a fundamental commonality: both give form to a final product that cannot be directly seen by the user. This is achieved through the collaboration of multiple specialists (or tools), each using their own skills and interpretations.
This shared process suggests that Braille Digital Art is more than just a display of new technology. It represents a new artistic lineage where the deep wisdom of traditional art production merges with modern technology.