S. Natasha Mercado
4/29/14
ART308
Analysis Assignment: Interactivity
Art interactivity opened many horizons for artists and their conceptual ideas. Taking the role of the viewer a step further, the artist not only changes the role of the viewer but also changes the traditional role of the artist. The artist becomes the creator of the idea and visualizes the work but in order to make it happen s/he needs the hands and efforts of others. Whether it is community-based art or a combination of the efforts of many fields to make a project possible, Interactive art challenges the artist and his or her public outreach while avoiding the traditional institutionally created art spaces such as the gallery or museum. Interactive art is work that needs the collaboration of others, from the public or a specific group of people within a community (artists, architects, children, biologists), to function and to become whole.
Interactive art does not only question or worry about artistic terms and conceptual ideas but is more focused on events of everyday life such as social or political issues. Everyday life representations allow the viewer to become the participant of the work and have more control, which in fact, influences the success of the end product. Although interactive art artists are not very preoccupied with the works’ end product what is most important to them is public engagement and outreach. The artist, on the other hand, takes the role of the producer and director rather than the creator. The artist lets the participant or user control the direction of their work while still maintaining their conceptual goals. One example of an artist that challenges the roles of the artist and viewer is Vito Acconci.
Vitto Acconci questions the concept of the public against the private space, their interaction, their context, and how they affect everyday situations and human interactivity. In his The Following piece, Acconci followed individuals at random with a camera until they entered a private space. The individual person chosen to be a participant becomes the controller of the piece while the artist becomes passive within the space and time of the participant. The decision of time and space were no longer his but up to the individual being followed. The fact that Acconci could not enter the public space of the participant enhanced the barrier between the public and private domain. The traditional viewer who is “viewing” the art switches roles into the participant where, although the participant doesn’t know he or she is in the piece, the participant holds control of the dictation of the space, the time spent, and the overall traveling done by the artist.
Other types of interactive art are community based projects or collaborations with other fields. Community-based reaches out to groups in specific communities to attack a certain social issue, as an educational means, and aims to draw in the personal context of individuals. For example in Judy Baca’s The Great Wall of Los Angeles mural, Baca engaged hundreds of culturally and economically diverse historians, artists, scholars, community members, etc. Baca brought the Californian community together of people with various interests and talents in order to create a piece that symbolized their history, experiences, and the integrating of different classes, race and genders. Her mural was aimed to give a voice to underrepresented figures and groups in order to inform and express this repression to society. Baca was able to accomplish the large work by bringing the community together and letting the participants add their own historical context.
Whether it is digital or community-based work, interactivity invites the viewer to become the participant or user of the artwork. Interactive art engages an individual or a group of people and makes the experience a lot more personal. The artist challenges the traditional role of the artist and the viewer and avoids the context that is added to the work by institutions such as the museum. The work no longer has a fixed price or belongs to a specific place or person but is now a contribution of many and belongs to the public. There is no sole creator but what is most important is the help and engagement of others (beside the artist) to make the work effective.
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