The Running Ink (and) Painting: Re-Generate Chinese Painting Experiences with Interactive Liquid Effects

As a traditional art form involving the use of ink, brush, and paint, Chinese painting enjoys a time-honoured history and is more abstract, stylized, and less realistic compared to western arts. Among all the significant features of Chinese painting, ink washing painting has a distinct feature - the mark left by the ink. When the ink falls onto the paper and spreads towards different directions, the unique visual signature and aesthetic of Chinese painting begin. Inspired by the ink-dropping effect, we propose an interactive installation named the Running Ink (and) Painting, consisting of three parts, a generative visual system, a physical input interface, and a physical output interface. Participants can interact with this system through the physical interface and easily create real-time liquid effects as a simulation and re-imagination of the creation of Chinese painting.