Dream Painter

Abstract

This paper describes an interactive robotic art installation Dream Painter by the artistic duo Varvara & Mar that deploys artificial intelligence (AI), a KUKA industrial robot and interaction technology in order to offer the audience an artistic interpretation of their past dreams, which are then turned into a collective painting. The installation is composed of four larger parts: audience interaction design, AI-driven multicoloured drawing software, communication with an arm robot, and a kinetic part that is the automatic paper progression following each completed dream drawing. All these interconnected parts are orchestrated into an interactive and autonomous system in the form of an art installation that occupies two floors of a cultural centre. In the article, we document the technical and conceptual frameworks of the project, and the experience gained through the creation and exhibition of the interactive robotic art installation. In addition, the paper explores the creative potential of speech-to-AI-drawing transformation, which is a translation of different semiotic spaces performed by a robot as a method for audience interaction in the art exhibition context.