User:Diego Moya/Interactive Art and HCI

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comment|original research / Advert / essay-like. The lack of line references and tone mean that this is not appropriate as an encyclopaedic article; it seems to present opinion, rather than verifiable fact. Although, inline references would help greatly. =====

In contemporary artistic practice, interactive art is often described as internet art, electronic art, new media art etc. The purpose of this article is to provides a platform to connect and bridge the current overlap practices in the Interactive Art practices and the Human Computer Interaction. The convergence between and HCI and art practices often overlaps in many areas of interest making practitioners from both disciplines to tap into the creative issues that can augment between the both disciplines. Many artists have worked consistently through-out creating art while exploring the boundaries of information technology (HCI). Virtual reality technology, robotics, and many other mediums of interactive art explores the new genre of interactions and sheds lights to new domain in HCI interface development.

Beyond the convergence that exists between the two disciplines, many critiques also argue the incompatible role of HCI and interactive art practices. The argument presents the major differences as the delivery of goal, methods and forums. Art practices; traditionally have avoided the scientific methods and focus on abstract view and goals. HCI practices is often seen as conservative and user-centric quantifiable design. The resulting conflict presumes the two disciplines as incomprehensible (Sengers, Csikszentmihalyi, 2003) and that it can not co-exist. However, In current practices in both areas are rapidly changing into a new collaboration. The changing new forms and genres of art practices may provide new ways of thinking and inter disciplinary opportunities for practitioners. The current development in interactive arts also brings new ideas of exploring the interface development, user and computers issues that HCI practitioners frequently queries on. The quantified development in HCI areas can also give artist a new venue to explore interface and develop content. In the past few years, both areas have seen a frequent collaboration of ideas and development that could potentially mutually benefit of creating new ideas. New artists, and their mediums in interactive arts and the purpose of creating a shared platform could give HCI and the art practitioners a new direction towards an engaging and contemporary way of studying user and computers.


 * The Convergence and Conflict of HCI in the interactive arts
 * What are the benefits and challenges of creating a work flow between HCI and interactive art? How do HCI and Interactive Art converge and where does the conflict occurs?


 * With an emerging field of collaborative and inter disciplinary works, both the areas can benefit with new creative approaches of using technologies, understanding interaction, field of practices such as theater, musical, art, architecture and film, cutting edge technical skills in many areas including art and interface development. Using existing computation systems and comprehensive tools, artists and HCI practitioners can collaborate to develop new methodologies and usability experience. While interactive artists are known for their critical works in combining artistic expression through a medium and interfacing with computer hardware and softwares; HCI practitioner's resources of scientific models and computational systems are critical to design and development of computer interface. Convergence within the two areas could create facade of new ideas.


 * One of the fundamental challenges of convergence in the contemporary practice is the inability to function in unidirectional relationship between art, science and technology (Laurenzo, 2011). This fundamental issue of the unidirectional relationship prevent practitioners in both areas to work together frequently. The importance and necessity of interactive art and HCI comes in both areas by mediating and collaborating in a purposeful and meaningful creative approaches.


 * Artists and HCI
 * Many Artist has contributed to mediate and bridge the differences between interactive art and HCI.


 * 1) Interactive artist Maurice Benayoun whose work primarily involved virtual reality and interactive art. His extended work on virtual installation and the process of understanding subjective data mining and urban navigation is considered significant to artists and HCI practioneer. His concept of "critical fusion" has widely accepted as a theory and practices and has influenced many artist in the area of interactive art.
 * 2) Interactive media artist and researcher, Scott Snibbe, has been widely credited to develop full body interactive work, where the computer controls the projection system. The floor projection is manipulated based on user response and movements forming a Voronoi Diagram.
 * 3) Interactive artist, David Rokeby's Very Nervous System (1982–1991), translating physical gestures into real-time interactive sound environments, is acknowledged as a pioneer work in the field of electronic arts . He is known for interfacing different technologies and circuitry turning his art into a self home-made interactive art. His interactive work expands into computer surveillance interfaces and user response.
 * 4) Char Davies, who is an interactive artist is known for her acclaimed work on virtual reality and software development (founding director of softimage - 3d software company). Her work on Osmosis interfaces user with computers in a virtual environment using head mounted display (HMD). She is considered a pioneer of creating expressive artistic immersive environments interface with computer hardware and software.
 * 5) Brenda Laurel, is a researcher and a designer in human-computer interaction area. Trained as an artist and working in HCI area, her work is considered a bridging platform between artist and HCI practitioners. She is best known for her book Computers as Theater.  Her works expands in the area of human-computer interaction, virtual reality, interactive narrative and game studies.
 * 6) Lev Manovich, a computer media artist and a theorist, best known for his book The Language of New Media. His theory and works in semiotics, moving images and virtual space, are precursor to the foundation to experimental electronic art practices. His work on Database as a Symbolic form reflecting the concepts of paradigm and syntagm and how new media reverses their original relationship, is considered a major contribution in the new media art.


 * Art and HCI community
 * The Laboratory for Automation Psychology - UMCP
 * MIT Media Lab
 * Xerox PARC