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Technology-Facilitated Interactivity in Installation Artworks

This page is dedicated to providing a sample of some of my thoughts, presented as writing, about the discipline of Land art. I have provided a list of relevent references at the bottom of the page to support these writing excepts. There you can find links to related writings by myself and others along with some projects I have created that were inspired by this topic. I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions/corrections/concerns you would like to chat about =).

In this chapter, several of the authors installations are described in terms of their approach to human-circuit interplay in the gallery. The first section, Interaction Rail, introduces the installation Electrical Box which guides participants through an electromagnetic eavesdropping expedition with minimal guidance. Next, Open Interaction presents the installation Cathode Ray Tubes which creates an inclusive interaction environment which strives to be open, flexible, and complex. The Deception section bestows two interfaces: Symbiotic SNES, a project that reinterprets familiar games, and their interfaces, through the manipulation of control messages; and 6 * 9 = 42, a project that implements a program which misuses data to publically label users without their knowledge. Next, the Unwelcoming Spaces section tenders the installation No Humans Allowed which creates a hostile environment that discourages interaction from visitors. This chapter concludes with the Non-Interactive section where Computer Music and Digital Rain are the featured installations where interactivity is nonexistent.

Interaction Rails

I used the term “Interaction Rail” to describe situations where an interactee encounters multiple interactions which must be executed in a specific order without the option for deviation. The term is inspired by on-rail video games. In video game design, a game is considered to be “on-rail” if the manner the player travels is pre-determined on a line, as if literally on rails. This originally was done to allow for the use of high production backgrounds and higher quality pre-rendered graphics. When a video game is designed on-rail the designers do not have to commit resources to creating vast open levels and can focus on presenting less content that is of higher artistic quality. This approach to game design still persists today mostly as a stylistic choice instead of a technical necessity. [54] An example of an interaction rail, outside the context of gallery art, or video games, is the financial transactions that use a credit card chip-reader. In order to pay for the goods, the customer must complete the interaction rail in order:

1. Insert credit card into chip-reader

2. Confirm that the amount is ok

3. Sign for the purchase

4. Remove the credit card from the chip-reader

If the customer skips one of these steps or attempts to perform any step out of order, for instance by removing the credit card from the chip-reading before signing for the purchase, the transaction is rendered void.

Unsurprisingly, with installations that use these configurations, it can be difficult to ensure the attendee completes all interactions in order. Thus, installations that exhibit this structure are burdened with guiding the visitors along the rail, usually while affording minimal confusion and discomfort onto the interactee. This can be easier to accomplish by closely guiding the participant with written, or implicit symbolic, guidance. The installation introduced in this section, however, instead attempts to guide subjects while avoiding the use of explicit written or symbolic directions. The installation sheds the responsibility of explaining itself to the visitor, allowing the installation to impart a spirit of discovery and exploration to its guests.

The above writing was created to contextualise my Electrical Box installation which can be found HERE.

Meanwhile, the EavesDropper EM listening devices used to realise the Electrical Box installation are dicussed HERE.

I have also written on related topics such as technology mediated soundwalking HERE, musical mechatronic performance HERE, and circuit bending HERE.

Interactivity in Outdoor Natural Environments

Thank you for your patience, this writing is coming soon =).

References and Suggested Readings

This writing has been adapted from prior informal and published works including my PhD thesis from Victoria University of Wellington and my Master's thesis from California Institute of the Arts. The reference numbers have been carired over from this document to ease my personal workload. I am planning on expanding this section to include more in-depth dicussions that are not restrained by the limitations imposed by writing a PhD thesis. Stay tuned for future writings! If you are interested in reading my formal published works from which most of this writing originates, you can find it on this page HERE. Meanwhile, for easier reference, below are the in-text references (with links to some sources).

[54] V. Maisonneuve, Everything You Need to Know About Video Games. 2015.