How I Define Interaction
Through reading the articles about interactive art and the language of new media, I concluded my own definition of interaction. Generally, an interaction is the conversation that involve different levels of engagement between two or more communicators. During an interaction, one or more communicators that take part may interact physically, emotionally, or ideally both ways depending on their engagements. The process of the communication comprise three fundamental cyclic steps in an effort to be interactive: receive, process, and reply. On top of that, it is crucial for the communicators to either truly understand or fully receive the DIRECT responses of one another, otherwise, the communication will not be specified as an interaction.
Example Project 1: Into The Wind
(aligns with my definition)
Into the Wind, by Witaya Junma
Into the Wind is an interactive project designed and created by Witaya Juma after she was inspired by the nature characteristics of the wind in the environment that can be sensed through the human perception of feel and touch, but not with our vision. Witaya sees the wind as a force with motions and life that flows pass, flows into and flows out of the beings like human and plants trough breath. In this project, Witaya Juma created an installations that enable the observer to visualize and shape the wind and its motion during the interaction as unique forms of floating bubbles, depending on the exhalation of air into a transparent box. The box contains the computer programming that can transform breath into the winds that drives the the components of the mechanisms. After the audience blow their breathe into the box, they stand beside and appreciate their unique sight of the easeful, slow-moving wind bubbles.
The communication between the installation and the viewer went through the fundamental steps of interaction in a cyclic process. First, the viewer blew their breath into the installation, the computer program within the box listened to it. Secondly, the program processed the message that each viewer uniquely blew, and transformed the breath into winds that drove the mechanism. Then, the installation replied the viewer with the beautiful floating bubbles in different forms based on how the viewer/s blowed their breath. These steps of the communication can be taken into a cycle in a way, where the viewer received the response of the installation, and being emotionally and visually entertained, they continuously blew their breath into the box, sending the message again to the installation, in which it repeats the steps of the interactions. During process of the interaction, both the viewer and the installation received and understand their responses completely: the installation is able to create the unique forms of wind bubbles correlating to the breath that the viewer apply differently each time, and the viewer is able to observe the complete scene or the response that they caused through interacting with the installation.
The mother and the child received the response of the installation. Watching at the bubbles, they were pleased and delighted by the view.
Example Project 2: See the World of Sound
(Does not aligns with my definition)
Link of the performance: https://www.manamana.net/video/detail?id=3646#!en
See the World of Sound
Director and documentary producer: Cheng Yuyang
Programmer: Nie Xiaoguang
Dancer/Performer: Shi Feiyang
The performance, See the World of Sound is mainly produced by Cheng Yuyang while he was experiencing his first heart break, and he gained the inspiration through hearing the music produced by a Chinese musical instrument named guqin. The performance began with a dancer that stood in front of a plain white wall that can replicate the position and the movements of the dancer using the shadow that the lighting created. When the dancer started dancing emotionally, the wall processed the shadow and the posture movements of the dancer, and it created wave-like ink shadows that followed and spread around the original shadow of the dancer.
This performance project does not align with my definition, because when the computer program gave its response on the wall by creating moving ink shadows, the dancer didn’t receive the response completely as he was deeply involved in his own emotions and wasn’t facing towards the wall for most of time. It was the computer programming thing that was receiving the message of the performer, processing it, and replying its own response on the wall behind the actor separately, throughout the whole communication. Although the performer played a significant role of making the wall to response his messages, he was not deeply engaging with the complete response that the wall reflected. The performer was concentrating in his emotional performance more than communicating with the shadow created behind.
The performer being deeply drawn in expressing his own emotions
Works Cited
Junma, witya. “Home.” YouTube, 23 October 2020, https://www.manamana.net/video/detail?id=235369#!en. Accessed 20 September 2022.
Yuyang, Cheng. “See the WOrld of Sound.” Mana, 5 December 2018, https://www.manamana.net/video/detail?id=3646#!en. Accessed 20 September 2022.