Chronus exhibition
After visiting the Chronus exhibition, I feel like this exhibition contains more interactive elements than other exhibitions of non-technology based artwork. I cannot say that other exhibitions of artwork don’t contain any interactive elements. But their interactive elements are more likely to be mentally interactive. For example, when people see some painting exhibitions, people may think of what the artist was thinking when they painted. And people can feel the emotion of the paintings that the artists wanted to express. In this sense, people seem to interact with the artist through the painting so that they can mentally interact with each other. However, the Chronus exhibition contains more physically interactive elements than the normal exhibition. All the exhibition not only maintain the artistic parts but also maintain some interactive functions that encourage people to physically interact with it. Even though some of them cannot interact with people, they kind of interact with themselves. In other words, they are not always stationary. When I visited the exhibition, I first felt confused about some of the outlooks of some exhibitions. But after I read the introduction and saw how they worked, it became easier to understand the artist’s idea. In this sense, they are artistic. For instance, there was a sculpture called Beholding the Big Bang by Arthur Ganson. It’s a sculpture in which a motor drives a series of gears which reduce the motor speed. So the first gear can rotate fastest while the following gears would rotate slower and slower. This project maintains the interactive element in which it can interact with itself. At for the inner idea of this exhibition, it can relate to Big Bang. In my opinion, such projects can not only show their artistic perspective through their outlooks but also can easily embody their interactive perspective to appeal to people.
Project research
https://circuitdigest.com/microcontroller-projects/virtual-reality-using-arduino
The first interactive project that I searched is a virtual reality project using Arduino and Processing. Different from the common virtual reality projects that require the users to wear a device on the head, this project requires the user to wear a device created by Arduino on his hand. The author was inspired by the movie Iron Man. He “tried to mimic the Virtual reality stuffs that happen in the movie, like we can simply wave our hand in front of the computer and move the pointer to the desired location and perform some tasks”. In my opinion, he accomplished his idea in a proper way and this project aligns with what I think a successful interactive experience is. And here is the video about how he interacted with his project. https://youtu.be/HEOc6Xc5CAs
In this video, he shows several ways to interact. First of all, he created a GUI on his computer by using Processing. After wearing the device on your hand, you can move the pointer to the desired location and perform some tasks by the movement of your hand. For instance, after you open the interface on your computer, the computer would turn on its camera to track the position of your hand and generate a pointer based on the position of your hand. Then, if you touch your thumb with your index finger, the screen would show you that key 1 is pressed. And the function of this movement is similar to the function of clicking the mouse. Moreover, once you open the final interface, you would find it more interesting and interactive. There is a Dialog box on the screen. When you move your hand in front of the Dialog box and touch your thumb with your index finger first, you can drag the Dialog box anywhere on the screen. It’s like you are actually dragging the Dialog box instead of using the pointer and the function on the computer. The whole process of interacting with this project provides us with the experience that the movie embodies. Besides, the output of the project is quite clear and direct. Therefore, from my perspective, the project fits my definition of interaction well and aligns with what I think a successful interactive experience is.
https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/faweiz/arduino-radar-69b8fe?ref=search&ref_id=processing&offset=20
The second project that I searched is basically a radar made by Arduino. And the interface shows what the radar detects on the computer. And here is the video about how it works. https://youtu.be/bPpq_6AVtEc From my perspective, it is a complete interactive project using Arduino and Processing. But it’s not a successful interactive project. This radar just interacts with the surroundings itself. What the user can do with it is just to watch the output on the computer. Thus, it doesn’t provide users with a lot of interactive processes and experiences. Compared with the first project, it’s less successful to achieve the interactive goal. However, if this project can add a remote or a controller to control the radar car, this can be more interesting and appeal to more users.
Conclusion
My definition of interaction is that interaction is a cyclic process requiring at least two objects that have effects on each other. Based on what I’ve learned through this semester and my experiences of executing the midterm project, I think a successful interactive must consist of a good user experience that encourages the user to engage in the process of the interaction of the project. If a user is thinking about other issues that have nothing to do with the project when they are interacting with it, this project cannot become a successful project. For example, the first project that I searched online motivates the user to interact with it while the second project that I list above is just a project that only interacts with itself but not interacts with a user. Moreover, if the user’s experience is not limited by only their fingers, it can even be a more interactive project. In my opinion, the most important parts of the interaction are input and output. Even though you can do at least one part really well, your project is successful. For instance, if you are able to create a beautiful and charming output, it is enough to attract people to come to admire the wonderful output even though what they need to do is to click several buttons. Otherwise, if you can make the user experience really interesting, people won’t mind how the output would be like because they can gain happiness directly from their experience of interacting with it. So people would like to interact with your project. The most challenging difficulty is to combine both sides of input and output. Often, there is a situation that you want to create a wonderful output with an interesting input but the final consequence is that you can accomplish neither of it. Therefore, considering the combination of input and output is the most significant step in making a successful interactive project. Once we can find the balance of the input and output and consider the process of user experience, the project must be successful.