Recently I have visited the Chronus exhibition with the class. I went to a similar exhibition place last year with Professor Parren’s RAPS class field trip. The Chronus exhibition is quite different from the one that I had visited last year. The Chronus exhibition requires more interaction between the projects and the viewers. For example, there was one project called Artificial Intuition. In that project, the artist includes ultraviolet rays. By using the ultraviolet rays, the artwork could detect any movements that the viewer is making. And then, the artwork would imitate the viewer’s movement. The artworks that I saw from last year’s RAPS field trip were quite different. The artworks from that field trip were more descriptive. Those artworks required less interaction. I remember we had to go into a dark room and stand in front of the huge projection screen. The screen just kept showing the video that the artist wanted to show us. The artist incorporated lights, sounds, and some effects together. But there was not much interaction needed. We only figured out one part that required some interaction. There was a corner in the room that could echo if we make some sounds.
I have researched on some interactive projects. Several projects have caught my eyes. Firstly, I would like to talk about a project called the bomb. The artists of that project want to make the community understand how effective nuclear weapons could be. How nuclear weapon could affect people’s daily lives in some negative ways. The bomb communicates this idea in a less solemn way. In the article “An Experience at the Heart of Nuclear Annihilation”, the author mentions, “the bomb is an immersive film, music, and art installation that puts viewers at the center of the story of nuclear weapons. VICE went behind the scenes of its premiere at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival in New York” (1). This project includes film and music that could help the audience understand what nuclear annihilation would look like. Growing up in a military island, Guam, I always pay close attention to the updates on new weapons. I know how effective military weapons could affect my life. For example, after World War Two, Guam’s soil was being tasted with a high percentage of lead, which means everything that grows locally would contain lots of lead. My family would not eat much locally grown stuff due to that high percentage of lead in soil. This is an issue that the locals have been facing post-WWII. We, locals, know how severe it can get be. However, my friends from outside of the island do not really understand this pain when I mention this story to them. The bomb’s intention is to make people aware of how severe this issue can get. I think these artists do have a strong intention. However, I think they could make it more interactive. After watching the video, I felt like they are just trying to imitate the environment. I do not see much interaction between the participants and the bomb itself. For my project, I hope I can also illustrate such a meaningful purpose with some interactive processes.
In addition to the bomb, another project that has caught my eyes is Artists Show Us How to Make Outrageous Costumes for $100. In that article, the author talks about how several artists self-make costumes. Even though this project might not seem to be very interactive, but I think it could be developed further and add some interaction processes onto it. If I have the opportunity to work on something like this, I think I would build a device that would help the participant to make the costume if the participant is willing to provide his requirements and carefully follow the procedures that I have set up. I think by doing that, this self-make costume idea would be limited only to people who have tailoring skills. Everyone would be able to enjoy the process of self-make costumes and take part in promoting sustainability. I believe that everyone has his own thoughts and ideas about costumes. Everyone has inspiration. For example, one artist says, “It’s basically myself in the future. Sci-fi costumes are always my go-to, and I wanted to incorporate some elements having to do with my Transformational Makeover project” (3). If the project/device could be built in a way that helps people to put their inspirational ideas to become a true item, I think it would be very meaningful. I am personally very interested in the fashion field and also do have a concern about the unsustainability issue that we are encountering currently.
From my previous two projects, I think I have had similar definitions of interaction. I think interaction is simply asking a participant to interact with the device, and through the processes, an expected outcome would arise. However, when the participant is not following the procedures properly, the expected outcome would not appear. My definition of interaction aligns with the definition from one reading we had read at in the beginning of this semester—What exactly is interactivity? In that article, the author mention, “interaction: a cyclic process in which two actors alternately listen, think, and speak” (5). According to the author, the two parties—the participant and the device—have to participate in this process. They both have to contribute some effort in order for the interaction to work properly. Both projects that I have analyzed above somewhat incorporates interaction throughout the process. However, interaction features might not be so obvious in the processes. Like I have mentioned above, there are ways to make these two projects to be more interactive. Without a doubt, these two projects do give me inspiration for the project that I want to work on.
References page
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3kvwaw/an-experience-at-the-heart-of-nuclear-annihilation