This thread has kind of gone quiet and it's the last day of the
theme, so I thought I would just jot down what I would like to see
more of.
LESS ICONS, MORE SMALL STUFF
For me, and this was very evident at Refresh!, there is a still a
preponderance of iconic works. As I've argued elsewhere, I think we
are a some way off understanding audience engagement with interactive
works and being able to articulate that in a set of principles or
methodology. Interactive works fall between many stools, from HCI to
Engineering to Design to Fine Art, just to name a few. Trying to
understand this area feels like searching for a needle in a
theoretical haystack.
Personally, I'd like to see more attention on smaller (and less
expensive) works, which represent a wider range of experimentation in
the area. Many of these works do not fit into the realms of the
gallery nor easily into any cultural box. Nevertheless we need to see
more of them in the public domain because these interactive works
only come alive with people using them.
IT'S ABOUT THE WORK, NOT THE ARTIST
This brings me to my second point. It's essential that artists,
designers, and those working in these emerging fields user test their
work. It's often impossible to have an idea of the success or failure
(in terms of compelling engagement) of an interactive work unless you
try it out. This is very much the work that Lizzie Muller et al are
engaging in at UTS in Sydney with their Beta_Space project in the
Powerhosue.
Critical to this is the notion that you modify and evolve the work(s)
based on the feedback. This, it seems to me, is quite a departure
from the norms of certainly traditional fine arts in which the work
is complete once it is in the gallery and it is supposed to speak for
itself. Interactive works do not speak for themselves, they require a
participant in the conversation. There have been several, achingly
dull, large scale interactive works that I have seen over the years
that really could have done with some user feedback - it's something
that comes naturally to software and interface designers but seems to
be abhorred by artists and it part of the reason for my initial rant
about Art History not necessarily being the only lens through which
to examine emerging media work.
We simply need to see more work, exploring the modalities of emerging/
interactive/networked media and we need to try it out on real people
in real life. That means the galleries and museums need to take some
risks and engage with a broader audience. It's not coincidence that
museums like the Science Museum and the Powerhouse, which cater far
better for children, got their heads around interactive media much
earlier.
Best,
Andy
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Andy Polaine
Head, School of Media Arts
Senior Lecturer, Interactive Media
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T +61 2 9385 0781
M +61 413 121 934
F +61 2 9385 0719
http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au
http://blog.polaine.com
http://www.antirom.com
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School of Media Arts
College of Fine Arts (COFA)
The University of New South Wales
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Paddington
Sydney, NSW 2010
Australia
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