My Finger’s Getting Tired: Unencumbered Interactive Installations for the Entire Body

Symposium:

• ISEA98: Ninth International Symposium on Electronic Art

• Digital Aesthetics

• My Finger’s Getting Tired: Unencumbered Interactive Installations for the Entire Body

• Don Ritter

• Many interactive artworks are currently being created which provide interactive experiences to single viewers who are usually outfitted with various input and output devices, such as a mouse, data glove or head mounted display. Less common are installations which provide interactive experiences to groups of viewers who are unencumbered with any equipment. The most popular formats of presenting interactive media currently are the CD-ROM and World Wide Web. Many people are not exposed to interactive installations which are experienced by multiple users simultaneously without any physical input devices.

  Although the intellectual experience of screen based interactive art may be satisfying, the physical experience of sitting in a chair. clicking a mouse and entering keystrokes is not satisfying to the physical body. If interactive art is going to become an influential and cultural medium, the entire body—and not just the index finger–must be involved in the interactive and aesthetic experience. This presentation will discuss the aesthetics of multi-user and unencumbered interactive installations and present documentation on works of this type.

Category:

• Panel