Practice-led strategies for interactive art research

Abstract

Interactive art is said to be ‘created’ by the people engaged in the active experience of it. Works are conceived and first tried out in the studio environment by the artist and then introduced to a wider audience whose behaviour influences its particular visual and auditory manifestations. Research into this kind of process presents interesting challenges that require interdisciplinary collaboration. Artists, technologists, curators, museum organizers are seeking new ways to understand what is effective and engaging about the interactive experience. The practice-led research process is one of co-evolution between creative acts and research knowledge drawn from both informal experiences and organized studies. The present paper describes practice-led strategies for research that have been developed at the Creativity and Cognition Studios and put into effect in Beta_space, an exhibiting space in a major public museum.

Keywords:

• Practice-led research
• Evaluation
• Interactive art
• Creativity and cognition studios
• Beta_space