In the education and concept formation of people with visual impairments, the use of alternative senses such as touch and hearing, together with the notion of dimension of information, plays a critical role. Braille expresses one-dimensional written information through a two-dimensional pattern of six dots, and tactile diagrams provide two-dimensional graphic representations of objects and concepts. However, three-dimensional tactile observation tools are currently limited mainly to educational replicas and museum exhibits.
The sculptor Mitsunobu Matsuo has proposed "INFORMART" — a system of original polyhedral blocks based on geometric construction principles such as the silver ratio — and has developed support tools including tactile-form notation (shokei-fu) for haptic understanding.
Building on Braille (1D) and tactile diagrams (2D), this project aims to develop "tactile forms" (shokkei) as 3D representations, creating socially-implementable tools that contribute to art and geometry education for people with visual impairments as well as to the fields of healthcare and rehabilitation.
Environmental sculptor. Professor at the School of City Design, Central Academy of Fine Arts, China / Visiting Professor at the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University. President of the Japan NPO Welfare Art and Culture Research Society. Advisor to the China Sculpture Society. Joint Researcher at Tsukuba University of Technology. Founder of the Matsuo Sokei Foundation, the Netherlands. Born in Kumamoto in 1943; graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts in 1970.