Digital origami: from paper to code

Abstract

This project examines the redefinition of traditional Japanese origami through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and web technologies, exploring its transition from a manual art to an interactive artistic language. An interdisciplinary framework is proposed that reframes concepts such as authorship and performativity through computational mediation. Examples such as ROHM's Orizuru crane and the software of Tomohiro Tachi and Jun Mitani demonstrate this shift toward algorithmic generation. The paper presents an experimental system where digital origami figures, powered by generative AI, adapt to human faces in real time. This process establishes the work as an act of human-machine co-creation. The research concludes that digital origami does not seek to replace the traditional practice, but rather to expand its formal and conceptual possibilities, demonstrating how programming can function as an expressive material in digital culture.

Keywords: Digital origami, Programming and web technologies, Generative art, Technological innovation, Computational design.