Virtual Exhibit: Intangible Interaction

As a part of the virtual exhibition, I really did enjoy the exhibit “Seeing Machines”. I felt that this show in particular was involving, interactive and had plenty surprising elements throughout various exhibits. Each exhibit was unique but still maintained an underlying theme that tied all of them together. I felt like I was being tracked, but not in a threatening manner, but more in like an interactive manner.

I would surely say that I had two favorite works, both from the same artist. I loved Golan Levin’s Footfalls and the Manual Input Workstation. They both really intrigued me in terms of the creative inputs and outputs that it shared with the audience.

What I really like about both the exhibits is that they were unique to every audience even though they had a similar output. Every person interacting with the exhibit would create his/her own experience by gradually comprehending what inputs he/she could provide. What is even more exciting is the surprising elements as audiences’ figure how the piece responds to their movements and various gestures. I believe this is what keeps the audience involved in interacting with the piece without having any physical contact.

My guess is that the exhibits use a camera to pick on certain points of the human body which is then used as an input. For Footfall, the camera would detect for foot movements whereas for the Manual Input Workstation the camera would detect finger and palm gestures to build these random organic shapes. Essentially camera detection is what makes the exhibit intangible, not requiring any physical touch as an input.

If I were to work with both the exhibits I would probably add a more physical output than simply a digital one. Eg, real balls flying in the air as I step through a space or real shapes being formed from the gestures of my hand. Not sure how this would technically be executed, but as an idea I would make the entire exhibit more physical and less digital.