Jan
13
Jeanine Cowen – MFA Thesis Proposal Two
January 13, 2013 | Comments Off
Interactive Art, Sound, and Music Exhibit
This proposal intends to look at human nature as it engages with representations of emotion. Given visual and audio feedback, will viewers of an interactive exhibit tend toward aggression or joy (or somewhere in between) when given the opportunity to drive/trigger a closed system?
The junction of interactivity, visuals, music, and sound has been something I have been interested in all of my adult life. It started with an intense study of the music of John Cage and transformed on my first viewing of the film Koyaanisqatsi with the score by Philip Glass. It was also what drew me into wanting to compose music for film and as technology evolved, extended into interactive sound.
The experience of immersion created though the combination of visuals and sound has a long history, but with the current set of tools even more control and experimentation is afforded to the artist.
This proposal is focused on an exhibit that combines user interaction with shifting visuals, sound, and music. This exhibit will utilize a motion sensor input from the participant(s) as the trigger to adjust animation and/or film clips displayed on a number of screens throughout the exhibit.
These visual components will ‘evolve’ through basic human emotions, triggered from assessment of basic body motions. Directions to guide the participants through how to perform the recognized motions will appear randomly on the screens throughout the experience. In addition, interactive and adaptive music will transition to complement the emotional content of the images. Sound design will be generatively created utilizing the same motion sensor input(s).
Data on what types of body motions are more prevalent will be collected, providing an opportunity to assess the inclinations of the participants when engaging with a closed system driven by human interaction. How will the participants respond when multiple people are engaging with the system as opposed to singular participants? Will there be peer pressure to complete motions similar to others in the room?
Should this exhibit be successful in its implementation and assessment, a second phase would provide different versions of the system feedback to investigate the connection between different styles of feedback on the viewer’s actions.