Project 2: Kinetics and Interactivity
ANALYSIS

Kinetic art is an art, which engages the audience of the piece.
Many works of art are placed in galleries and exhibits where people are meant to merely look and only look. Museums today even have sensors, which prohibit the viewer from getting too close to a piece of artwork.
Kinetic artwork is more engaging and gives the audience a new role. With this type of art, the audience can experience the art much in the same way that the artist might. Interactive art lets the viewer experience the artwork using all of the senses. Instead of just observing or looking at a piece of art, the viewer can see, smell, hear or even taste the art.
In some instances the audience becomes the artist, in such works as Mel Chin, where he sets a precedent and the viewer follows through such as the compilation of the dollars designed by children.

http://media.publicbroadcasting.net/wwno/newsroom/images/3226573.jpg

Interactive art can range from a sculpture which moves in accordance with the environment. Calder is an excellent example. His sculptures are designed in such a way that when one enters the room, the burst of art created moves the mobiles. These mobiles are in constant motion, interacting with the air so that they are never in the same exact position. Calder's pieces are somewhat non representational and exist for the purpose of interaction.

George Ricky is another example of sculpture that is in motion. One of his pieces is installed outside, Three Red Lines and the three lines move constantly with the wind. This type opf artwork works in conjunction with nature and gives a certain movement to the piece which lets the piece itself change before the viewer's eyes.

http://www.annmariegarden.org/AboutUs/SmithsonianAffiliation/Images/smithsonian.jpg

Interactive art can also be like that of Christo and Jane-Claude which is an interaction with the environment. These artists wrap buildinga and build different gates in which people pass through or move around. This type of interaction is with the environment as well as the audience. The viewers can observe the way that the wrappings react with the environment as well as how the people themselves react.

For example, Christ and Jeane-Claude wrapped the Reichstag, a German parliament building. This artwork allowed people to still enter the inside, yet it created a new feeling. People on the outside would only see a somewhayt distorted outline of the building which gives a new personality to said edifice.

http://americanmagpie.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/christo_reichstag.jpg

Kinetic art can also take noral objects and give them movement and allow the audience to experience them in a new manner, such as exhibited by Rebecca Horn. For example, the use of pencils attached to a mask allows people to, essentially, draw using their faces.

http://www.culturevulture.net/ArtandArch/images/horn.jpg

Personally, I find kinetic art very pleasing. I like the concept of being able to be actively involved with a specific piece of artwork. It gives new meaning to the artwork and creates a memorable experience.