The Interactive Art Jury of this year's Prix Ars Electronica had to judge 274 submissions. One of the central aspects in the jury's work is to understand the interface used.
To understand is to invent
Masaki Fuhijata
What is a new type of creation of interactivity? Through the interface, one can interact with a target for understanding it. This process prompts one's imagination. When one interacts with it, one starts to imagine what will happen a few seconds later, then it happens. When one is in an interpassive state, one does not need any imagination, one only receives it. Through the interface one must be stimulated to interact. Interactivity is a stimulation of the power of imagination. By the power of imagination, one tries to see what will happen a few milliseconds ahead. This brings a future to the present. It is a jump between a past and a future. Only interactivity can make such a jump, enabling us to escape from the chronological cage.
It is possible to apply this type of understanding of interactivity not only human-machine interaction, but also, rather originally, human and human. We talk, discuss, and love each other. All happenings are real-time and interactive. It is entirely common to the human that when we are talking to each other, both react interactively. Here we reached a point, though, that talk between humans is not always interesting/delightful/enjoyable/meaningful. How it will be meaningful to talk with someone? It is precisely the same question as how one can get a splendid personality. Perhaps it is the content of a person. It can not be fixed until their death, but after their death nobody can interact with them.
Hopefully, it may be possible for digital media to include/record/store one's life as a digital format, a generative database, which can be accessible through a special interface with good interactivity. This is an important point of the difference from reading book, when one starts to consider a book as an interactive medium. Up to this point, it is possible to say 'interactive art' is an interface medium which can connect a participant to someone (the author?) at the other end, who can conduct an enjoyable/meaningful discussion with him interactively. The creativity of a system, constructing interactive art, is designing the structure/function of the medium. It is not about creating oneself (content). While creating the system, the person emerges. It is a kind of magic, a participant invents himself in that interactive system. (…)
Interactive art is a creative medium design, which enables us to explore the world in order to know it better, more precisely, or which even changes the world by creating it. Interactive art is not a given form of art, not an established medium. The process of creating interactive art is still the process of understanding the world.
274 Arbeiten hat die Jury für Interaktive Kunst beim diesjährigen Prix Ars Electronica begutachten müssen. Die zentrale Aufgabe der Jury besteht darin, das verwendete Interface zu verstehen. Lesen Sie Masaki Fujihatas Gedanken zu Interaktivität und Interface (auf Englisch).
