Yuichiro Katsumoto

Bio:

• SIGGRAPH 2020

  Katsumoto Yuichiro is an artist of gadget making and an educator. He is strongly interested in “Utsuroi” that means “passage”, “transition”, “moving”, and “morphing” in Japanese. By interpreting Utsuroi, he keeps inventing gadgets since his student days. From 2016, he focuses on “lines” as medium of his creation. He studied a video production and an interaction design at Keio University, Japan. After getting PhD, he moved to Singapore and worked R&D at National University of Singapore for eight years. In October 2018, he came back to Japan and started his own studio “Katsumotoy”. In April 2019, he also joined Tokyo Denki University School of Science and Engineering as assistant professor and launched “The Utsuroi Lab”.

  SIGGRAPH Asia 2018

  Yuichiro Katsumoto is a gadget maker based in Gifu, Japan. He studied video production and interaction design at Keio University, SFC. After completing the doctoral course, he moved to Singapore and worked at National University of Singapore to R&D about novel interfaces and toys for eight years. He thinks the art is in our playful daily life. He therefore has been making gadgets since 2006 by utilize the abilities acquired through his career. His works have been exhibited various venues such as SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, and Japan Media Arts Festival.

   

Writings and Presentations:

• Title: 7x7
  Writing Type: Sketch / Art Talk
  Author(s):
  • Yuichiro Katsumoto
  
  Exhibition: SIGGRAPH Asia 2017: Mind-Body Dualism
  Abstract Summary:

  We live surrounded by displays such as TV, smartphone, computer. These bitmap displays consist of pixels arranged in a two-dimensional plane. 7×7 was created by re-arranging these pixels multidimensionally. This display consists of 49 pixels, and these pixels do not overlap in the front, at the back, up, down, left or right. Therefore, each pixel is able to represent all six directions. By using these 49 pixels, 7×7 expresses “Iroha,” which is an old Japanese pangram that expresses one of the aesthetics called “Mujo (impermanence and ever changing)”.

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  Title: Robotype: Studies of Kinetic Typography by Robot Display for Expressing Letters, Time and Movement
  Writing Type: Paper
  Author(s):
  • Yuichiro Katsumoto
  
  Exhibition: SIGGRAPH 2018: Original Narratives
  Abstract Summary:

  Humans use letters, which are two-dimensional static symbols, for communication. Writing these letters requires body movement as well as spending a certain amount of time; therefore, it can be demonstrated that a letter is a trajectory of movement and time. Based on this notion, the author conducted studies regarding multidimensional kinetic typography, primarily using robots to display a letter and visualize its time and movement simultaneously. This paper describes
  the project background and design of the three types of robotic displays that were developed and discusses possible expressions using robotic displays.

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  Title: One-Stroke
  Writing Type: Sketch / Art Talk
  Author(s):
  • Yuichiro Katsumoto
  
  Exhibition: SIGGRAPH Asia 2016: Mediated Aesthetics
  Abstract Summary:

  A character is a two-dimensional symbol. Also, it is a static image. But we cannot write a character without moving our bodies and spending time. Thus, character potentially has a time axis. In order to reveal this time axis, the device called “Mojigen” was created. Mojigen writes alphabets in the air by the trajectory of the coil springs operated by eight robot arms. By
  changing the point of view, we can notice that a character has a time axis with dynamic moves.

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  Role(s):

  
  
  • Artist
  • Speaker/Presenter