Picassnake: Robot Performance Art

In this video, we present an artist robot, Picassnake (Figure 2). The robot listens to music, thinks (as in processing), and draws a unique abstract painting. Art has been considered as people's specialty, that is, a result of people's creativity, intention, and emotional expression. However, the robot's unique paintings make people think and discuss the meaning of art and the relationship between a robot and art, for example, what the art is, what creativity is, the robot's abstract painting is art or not, how the robot's painting is different from people's, and so on. Public performance is also a part of art. Many human artists express their emotions, feelings, and artistic senses through performance, for example, singing, acting, miming, and so on. As the painting robot publically performed its painting, this expands the discussion. Is the robot an artist? From our robot's performance, there are remaining artifacts, the abstract paintings (Figure 1). These may be served as catalysts for thoughts, discussions, and debates, similar to masterpieces continuously discussed and studied in our human history. The discussion of a robot and art can further expand to many people. After watching this short video clip, we want you to ask yourself. What is the art? Can a robot be an artist?