Sculpture Studio Spring 2012

Project 2: Kinetics and Interactivity
ANALYSIS

Interactivity

Interactive art is a form of art that allows the audience to engage in an artist’s work. There are many ways that the audience can interact with an art piece. The audience may have to walk in or around the piece to make it work, they may help create the piece or they can have a connection with it if it’s a video or a performance piece. Interactive art is very interesting because it allows someone to become part of either the making of art or making it work. It allows people to go through a new experience by being able to touch the art and help make it instead of just looking at it.

Mowry Baden is a perfect example of an artist that creates interactive installations. The piece that I was really interested in was “Seat Belt With Block.” The installation was made with an eight foot piece of seat belt material. One end was bolted to the floor and the other end was supposed to go around a person’s waist. As the person walked around in a circle, they would have to try and get over a concrete block in front of them. If they raised their foot higher than a certain distance, they would feel like they were about to fall. The installation was used to observe how people reacted when they felt unsecure when trying to get over the block.

(Seat Belt With Block)

I think that interactive art is more complex than what most people would think. At first, I thought that interactive art was just a process of making art that allows people from the audience to interact with it. Some of the artist’s that are involved with interactivity try to gain some knowledge from people through their art or express their own personal experiences. Baden used psychology and science to create his art and to observe peoples reaction as they are walking through his installation. Rebecca Horn was an artist that made interactive sculptures that showed what she has been through in life. She had a traumatic experience at a young age and it influenced all of her work. The sculptures she has worked on has a personal meaning of her trying to reconnect with the world after feeling isolated for so long.

Interactive art has changed the way that people see art and how they experience it. Traditional art processes (drawings, paintings, sculptures) limit the experience an audience has with an art piece. With interactive art, the audience can actually touch the art and walk through it. It also allows them to become part of the artwork when an artist asks them to help make something. A major disadvantage of having this type of art is that it can be damaged easily. The installation can go through a lot of use and it will eventually start to wear down. Since the audience is allowed to touch and interact with a piece, they can break it and then it will no longer be able to serve its intended purpose.