Making Interactive Art: Set the Stage, Then Shut Up and Listen

What I found the most interesting about this reading is the parallels and contradictions it had to our other readings. It parallels other readings by making reference to the idea that two items must be in communication to be interacting. The quote “Interactive work is different. The thing you build, whether it’s a device or a whole environment, is just the beginning of a conversation with the people who experience your work” separates interactive art pieces from normal art pieces in that it is a multistep process. I find the fact that projects should be interacted with only guided by its design rather than out-right labels or an instruction manual interesting. Maybe an item can come with instructions but ideally, it doesn’t need them.  The reading also highlights the experience of the object which was talked about in our previous reading.

Physical Computing’s Greatest Hits (and misses)

One of the key points that I got from this reading is that similar to art, interactive projects don’t have a lot of originality. A lot of them are iterations of previous ideas that either improve upon the original or simple create a variant of it. In addition, this reading opened my eyes to how expansive the IM world can be. There are so many sensors and actuators that I haven’t explored yet like the floor pads or gloves. It makes me excited to delve deeper into the world of IM. I was intrigued by the popularity of creating dolls or anamorphic designs and reminded me of my most recent midterm project, the cardboard dog Dapple.  I hope to create more interesting and increasingly complex projects in the future.