Moving Image Installations as Prototype Spatial Models of Interaction

• Published in: International journal of visual design Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 39 - 55
• Main Author: Artopoulos, Georgios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rome Common Ground Research Networks 2013
• Subjects: Architecture; Art exhibits; Embodiment; Installation art; Narratives
• ISSN: 2325-1581; 2325-159X
• DOI: 10.18848/2325-1581/CGP/v06i03/38720

In the light of current rapidly changing techno-social circumstances this paper discusses the benefits of an experimental interactive framework that functions as a locus for uncertain patterns (of interpretation, interaction, etc) to emerge through its capacity to sustain multiple narratives between artifacts in museums. The paper starts with the analysis of design precedents from the fields of art and technology to showcase the challenges of creating hybrid spaces. Beyond their understanding of content and space in terms of fusion or opposition strategies, early experiments with "image-saturated" spaces treated the visitor as a viewer, whereas today the development of responsive environments aims to engage the subject by inviting him or her to appropriate the space. Theoretical considerations and practical knowledge of the development of two moving image installations for art exhibitions will be presented through visual documentation of their production at the Department of Architecture, at Cambridge. Starting from scenario-based design methods, which experiment with dramatic performance and interaction, we developed a concept that deals with ever-changing spatial programmes based on the emergent associations between the visitors’ performance and the projected narratives. Movement through spaces, in time or through time, is one of the fundamental concepts that shapes cinema. The visitors, by immersing themselves in the narrative of our hybrid space, come to embody the filmic experience. Sparking synergy between the physical and the image-nary offers us a way to inhabit constructed realities and place the visitors in the action of narratives related to exhibited artifacts instead of imposing formalized knowledge, e.g. what all should know.