Sculpture Studio Portfolio (SP10)

Project 2: Kinetics and Interactivity
ANALYSIS

t

Note: Asterisks (*) mark works for which I was unable to find photographs.

The word “interactivity” acts as an umbrella term for all artwork that is static and in a way unresponsive.  More specifically, by making an artwork interactive, the artist is exploring ways in which to engage the viewer other than by simply looking at immobile work, or creating a work that has a definite relationship with its environment.  Interactive works can range from a sculpture that is mainly about balance and does not have anything to do directly with the viewer, such as Three Red Lines (1966) by George Rickey, to a performance piece that involves masturbating under floorboards and fantasizing about the people walking above (Seedbed by Vito Acconci, 1972).

Three Red Lines (1966)

Seedbed (1972)

Interactive works involve pushing outside the limit of art as simply being something for a person to look at, as it was mainly defined for hundreds of years.  One of the first steps many artists take to creating a piece that is more interactive is by making it kinetic, whether by outside forces (such as the elements) or on its own (such as a robot).  For example, in many of Rebecca Horn’s pieces, she has given movement to immobile objects by motorizing them, and their motion gives life and meaning to the piece: in Black Widow* (1988), black-feathered wings move as if they are flapping, which gives an eerie feeling of useless wings, since they do the motion of flying but are not covering any distance.  Although kinetic works do not usually breech the restraint of only using the sense of sight, they are more interactive because their movement adds an element of vitality that gives it a different type of meaning and presence than a painting on a wall.

Works that involve direct participation of the viewer are another type of interactive art.  Artists have included audience participation in various ways, and often the participation itself often adds meaning to the piece.  One type of viewer-interactive art includes interaction with the body, mainly in order to enhance (or disable) the senses, or to change perspective.  For example, Mowry Badon’s Phantom Limb* is a structure designed for a person to walk through in which he or she cannot see his hands, so that he must focus on sense of touch instead.  In other works the viewer has to perform a physical labor in order to “construct” the piece.  An example of this is High-Rise* (1980) by Vito Acconci, in which a person must pedal on a bicycle in order to raise the structure, which turns out to be a giant phallus.  In both of these works, the meaning of the piece would be lost if the viewer did not actively participate in it.

A final example of different types of interactive art is work that is created specifically for, and has a definite relationship to, a certain environment.  This type of work often has a level of community involvement in it, which also adds to the piece.  For example, Mel Chin’s Revival Field at Pig’s Eye Hill Landfill (1991) is an environmental piece in which the artist and other volunteers research and plant types of plants that can clean the soil in a hazardous waste site.  This work is not only about a specific environment that has been almost destroyed by human waste, but also about the members of the community coming together and working for a specific goal.  In another artwork, Rebecca Horn’s River of the Moon* (1992) involves different rooms of a house, with specific designs and furniture, that are all connected by pipes filled with pumping mercury.  Each room has its own theme, but the piece on the whole explores a metaphorical heart with separate chambers that the viewer can walk through and make meaning of.

Revival Field at Pig’s Eye Hill Landfill (1991)

These are all examples of how different artists have explored the theme of interactivity to create artworks that interact with the viewer or its environment on a higher level than just sight or a gallery room.  Many of these works become kinetic, in which the movement enhances or expresses a theme of the piece.  Other works require direct participation of the viewer, either to create the piece, or to interact with the artist, becoming more performance-oriented.  And outside of the sphere of an audience, artwork can become interactive when it is intended for a specific environment or is directly affected by it.