EMBODIED INK

EMBODIED INK

MULTIMEDIA PERFORMANCE

Artists: Anna Borou Yu, Jiajian Min, Ying Shi, Greta Campo, Siyu Wang, Zezheng Li Year: 2024

2024 NEW INC DEMO CLOSING PERFORMANCE, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York

Manifesting as a two-dimensional artform, Chinese Calligraphy actually results from the process of three-dimensional stroke-body motion. The project "Embodied Ink" transcends the presentation form of this traditional medium, immerses its viewer in a multisensory environment with a poetic experience of calligraphy. Comprising an interactive installation and an immersive performance, the project translates stroke motion into body movements, further into real-time calligraphic visuals and sounds with motion capture technology. Drawing inspiration from art history research on the three schools of Chinese calligraphy, Seal Script (zhuanshu), Standard Script (kaishu), and Cursive Script (caoshu), it reconceives the physical media in terms of virtual potentialities, fixed forms in terms of forces and moving particles. The virtual field of the body reveals the imperceptible movement and philosophical ideas underlying calligraphy. By recontextualizing the ancient art within a contemporary digital landscape, this work celebrates the cultural heritage’s capacity to evolve and resonate across epochs. 

The technical process merges motion capture, generative AI, and biometric feedback to bridge physical and virtual realms. Dancers’ body motion and gestures are captured via Kinect camera. They are processed through TouchDesigner and Stable Diffusion—trained on a curated calligraphy dataset, into abstract calligraphic visuals and dynamic flows that echo the fluidity of wind, water, and sound. Simultaneously, Emotibit sensors collect biodata such as heart rate and muscle tension, modulating the opacity of brushstrokes, intensity of visual effects, and generative soundscapes in response to the dancer’s physiological state. This biophysical feedback loop transforms the performer into a living brush, their body’s hidden kinetics—pressure, torsion, rhythm—made visible as dynamic ink traces.

Culturally, Embodied Ink expands calligraphy’s legacy into contemporary discourse, offering a model for reanimating intangible practices through immersive technology. Its hybrid approach—merging motion capture, biodata, and generative AI—dissolves boundaries between choreography, computation, and visual art. Premiered at the 2024 NEW INC DEMO CLOSING PERFORMANCE at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, the piece invites viewers to experience calligraphy as a living, ever-changing art form.

Special thanks to NEW INC, New Museum of Contemporary Art, EY Metaverse Lab, ONX Studio, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Andy Chiang, Harald Haraldsson, Tiange Zhou, Zeyu Wang