NeMe: Trouble at the Interface 2.0
The article describes the history of interactive art and how it has involved lately. Interactive art, also known as “hands-on” because it allows the user to feel like they are involved in whatever they are doing. Interactive Art was first introduced in 1989, by the American artist Lynn Horseman and one of the works named Deep Contact. In Deep Contact the user was invited to reach into the screen and touch a woman. Another interactive art is Jeffrey Shaw’s The Legible City, which the user rides a stationary bike that allows them to ride through a virtual city which show letters, numbers and sentences. Throughout the years, interactive art evolved and many new artists came up with works that involves the user getting involved in many ways, from waving, to jumping to shouting and more. Lately, the interactive art has changed in that some of the art works does not involve a user activating it. However, those artworks are still classified as interactive art, specifically, “passive art”. “Passive art” works does not require a user to be activated, for example, Rockeby’s (n)Chant , in which the computers work together to say some sentences, so the user becomes an observer and just listens.
The most important part of this article is Ars Electronica juries clarifying what interactive art is. The definition of interactive art is “a form of art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose.” It involves a human interacting with the computer or artwork not observing. Artworks that do not involve the participation of the user should not be classified as interactive art in my opinion. Art will always evolve in many ways but we must stay true to the definition of interactive art.