INTERACTIVE INSTALLATIONS

Interactive installation is a branch off the installation arts category. Usually, an interactive installation will often involve the audience acting on it or the piece responding to the user’s activity. There are several kinds of interactive installations produced, these include web-based installations, gallery based installations, digital based installations, electronic based installations, etc. Interactive installations are mostly seen from the 1990s, when artists are more interested in the participation of the audiences where the meaning of the installation is generated.

With the improvement of technology over the years, artists are more able to explore out of the boundaries that were never be able to explore by artists in the past. The media used are more experimental and bold; they are also usually cross media and may involve sensors, which plays on the reaction to the audiences’ movement when looking at the installations.

At the turn of a new century, there is a trend of interactive installations using video, film, sound and sculpture. The purpose of these installations often send audiences home questioning about the purpose of the piece and what the artists are trying to say with it. Unless it is explained to us, we will all leave the place feeling puzzled and more confused than ever. For example, the work of Turner’s prize winner Martin Creed’sLights Going On and Off, the piece can be said to be completely puzzling, it does not venture into anything that will even wow us a little. However, the length the artists went through trying to tell us the issues that the installation is trying to say can be said to be quite unconventional as compared to the works done decades before. The usages of materials are far more sophisticated and the shock factor can be said to be astonishing.