The FatJab is a handheld printer that allows artists to print patterns and stories on any surface in the physical space. It deliberately doesn’t contain any sensing technology. The goal is to let the artist gain full control over the interface and distort the printed data as it is sprayed onto a surface to create a more personal rendering of a digital artwork.

“The idea for the FatJab came after seeing many computationaly enhanced graffiti-related projects,” says Vincent Leclerc. “I was very intrigued by all the possibilities of being able to bring art created using digital media into the physical space but at the same time very frustrated by the projects I saw: they were either very ephemeral (digital projections on city walls) or were just large-scale implementations of plotters/printers that completely lost the expressive language that painters/writers have developped over centuries.”

The FatJab is still a very experimental interface. FatJab.v3 is up and running, but it has many usability issues that urgently need to be resolved. Experimentation with v3 was insightful and FatJab.v4 will be on its way.

Pictures courtesy of the artist.