Thursday 22 November 2007

Project: Design for Interaction Nov. 07 - Jan. 08

We have been given a new project brief which involves developing an interactive project that explores/plays with the concepts surrounding the process of interactivity. The brief suggests that we look into other areas, than just screen based design, where audience interaction is an integral part of a concept. The final piece could include; a game, an experimental website, an interactive art-piece, a non-linear story, or a design for an interactive environment, such as retail space, a museum, a learning zone or as a response to a public arts commission.
I am not sure what I would like to do for this brief yet, however I like the idea of something that is less screen based and more experimental. After hearing about how the games developers at Kerb makes games that grow and stay alive on the Internet for an incredible amount of time, I started thinking how great it would be to create something that potentially could live and grow forever. I am not quite sure how this could be achieved but it is an interesting thought. Previously I made an Interactive Poetry Installation in collaboration with another student, this gave me a good idea of how a successful interactive piece is achieved. I think the key is a careful process of constantly asking questions and evaluating any ideas and decisions made, as well as always referring back to the goal or main purpose of the work. I really enjoyed making an installation so maybe I should consider the same area for this project. Back then I realised how important it was to be two people working together as we were able to feed off each others ideas and form much more in depth realisations of what we wanted to achieve due to long discussions and criticisms together. It was a really exciting process, I hope I can use some of the same principles for this project and take advantage of tutors and class mates to discuss my ideas. This blog is probably not a bad place to start, if everyone can help each other out, people are bound to achieve something far greater.
I am going to start my research by raising some really basic questions such as:

What does interactive mean?
What does Interactivity involve?
In what different areas is the concept of interaction used?

Artists I know about who work around the subject of interactivity, installation art or audience participation:
Lev Manovich
Bill Viola
Blast Theory
David Rokeby
Camille Utterback

Book: Interactivity by Design by Ray Kristof & Amy Satran

Alistair suggested I had a look at this website:
We-make-money-not-art.com

1 comment:

Chris said...

"something that grows forever" that sounds like a fantastic place to start, watch ghost in the shell on collective conscious of computer data.

see ya tm