As I consider Videogames – a topic of my interest – to be a form of digital and interactive art, I shall invoke it in my comprehension of the reading as often as I fathom appropriate.
The write asserts in the concluding paragraph of ‘Making Interactive Art: Set the Stage, Then Shut Up and Listen’: “So if you’re thinking of an interactive artwork, don’t think of it like a finished painting or sculpture. Think of it more as a performance.”
He has verily spoken what I comprehended, but failed to formulate into words for far too long. And interaction has three parts, the subject or ‘user’ engaging with the ‘mechanism’ through which a result (or nothing) is brought about. What better learning is there, when one is relieved of an instruction manual, and may engage with games or interactive art as if their own narrative is etched into their flesh and their mind.
Users will always be unpredictable, unique. We’re not robots, after all. A definite sculpture has a start to its creative process, and an end. But interactive art is boundless in this regard. Thus, the two are most certainly not analogous to one another. As the writer rightfully asserts, interactive art, like Videogames, are performances you have absolutely no preparation for, beyond setting the stage and inviting participants from all walks of life. Interactive art can be like a circus without a ringmaster, a classroom where everyone could be a teacher.
Furthermore, what makes a good performance (in my opinion) is that where the director makes the plot and narrative specific enough for the audience to follow along, but open and general enough for the audience to fill in the gaps with whatever they desire.
If I made a Videogames where people had no free will to interpret and engage independently, then it would never be ‘game’ or a work of ‘interactive art’ in its truest sense. What I gauge from this reading is that interactive art is perfect on part of its imperfections: let the users explore without becoming a dictator, it’s okay if they do something you didn’t anticipate!