Sang-won Leigh & Harshit Agrawal

Sang-won Leigh & Harshit Agrawal: Bridging Art and Technology Through Collaborative Exploration

Sang-won Leigh and Harshit Agrawal represent a fascinating intersection of artistic vision and computational science, forging new pathways for creative expression within the digital realm. Born in Seoul, South Korea (1987) and India respectively, their backgrounds contribute to a uniquely informed perspective on exploring the symbiotic relationship between humans and machines. Their artistic journey began amidst the vibrant cultural landscape of Korea, fostering an appreciation for traditional art forms alongside a burgeoning interest in contemporary media. Agrawal's formative years instilled him with a grounding in Indian philosophy and mathematics, shaping his understanding of patterns and systems – concepts that would prove invaluable to their collaborative endeavors. This dual heritage fuels their exploration into how technology can enrich artistic experience and challenge conventional notions of creativity. Both artists are deeply rooted in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where they actively engage in research focused on human-computer interaction. This institutional affiliation provides a framework for examining how technology can augment artistic processes and enrich our engagement with creative works, pushing beyond traditional boundaries to consider new forms of expression. Their collaborative spirit is evident in their groundbreaking projects that seamlessly blend artistic sensibility with computational innovation. Their most notable contribution stems from ‘A Flying Pantograph,’ presented at the TEI ’16 conference. This installation investigates errors and delineation developing in a larger processing structure, and their collective outcome across time, scale, and layers of the system. It questions the human interaction with the system and resulting delight and frustration, highlighting the numerous ways we make leaps forward and backward symbiotically with technology. The project explores how machines can mirror human emotions and intentions, fostering a dialogue between artificial intelligence and artistic sensibility. A Flying Pantograph is a prosthetic device operated by individuals, self-guided algorithms, and the authority behind the system. It’s a flying proxy for drawing transposes individual’s drawing movements through a filter – that merges multiple sources of input and approximates into a repeated series of strokes drawn at a far off canvas. The strokes are executed by multiple individuals, who will temporarily gain control over the drone standing in front of the wall space and picking up a stylus. In that process, the drone stays at a critical balance trying to scratch on the wall surface. Such a contraption and the ensuing interaction has several critical breakage points, drawing our attention to delineation and organization at multiple scales: the local perturbation made by the mechanical noise, the more global effort to make deviation by the human operators, and how across time the overlay of hundreds of strokes make a final outcome looking different from local processes. In such a systematic technological matrix surrounding the human life, are we entrenched or empowered? Beyond ‘A Flying Pantograph,’ Leigh and Agrawal have tackled ambitious undertakings like ‘Robotic Symbionts,’ which investigates the integration of human and machine actions across diverse applications—from robotics to augmented reality. This project builds upon the foundational principles established in ‘A Flying Pantograph,’ demonstrating a sustained dedication to exploring new frontiers within collaborative artmaking. They’ve also explored ‘L’evolved,’ focusing on autonomous agents as intelligent utilities, and ‘Z-drawing,’ utilizing a flying agent system for computer-assisted drawing—projects that underscore their versatility and intellectual curiosity. Their work has garnered recognition through publications in prominent conferences and journals, reflecting the significance of their research within the broader context of media arts and sciences. They are recognized as pioneers in human-computer interaction and contribute to shaping the future of artistic practice.