The Role of Eye Contact and Spectatorship in Interactive Installations
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Interactivity, Modes of
Presentation Title:
- The Role of Eye Contact and Spectatorship in Interactive Installations
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Abstract (short paper)
Eye contact is an innate and powerful way to communicate intimacy. This paper investigates the effect of eye contact in interactive installations focusing on the relationship between artworks and spectators. In a traditional exhibition setting, spectators take the initiative to connect with the artworks by taking actions such as watching or listening; specifically, the artwork becomes activated as a result of the spectators’ engagement with it. Therefore, the aesthetic experience of spectators and the spectatorship depends on the ways spectators see that artwork. But the gaze operates in a different fashion in interactive installations where the reactivity activates independently of the spectator. This paper proposes that interactive installations are activated in a different way that has implications for agency, mechanic systems.
