Interactive Art...

During Danforth's Docent Training, we were told true difference between passively looking and actively observing the visual stimuli. Once we start paying attention to objects in our immediate environment and start asking plenty of questions (Why is water tumbler cylindrical?, Why are door knobs round? Why are flags rectangular? Why is roof usually painted white? Why do birds chirp in morning?), we realize the "inter-connectedness" nature of things & aptitude for concentrated attention seems to shoot up in no time.

At Danforth & MFA, I have often seen viewers engaged in internal dialogue with the paintings. While some viewers fill up their notebooks, others nod their heads in admiration of artworks but the ones that interest me the most are kids (watching them is always fun:))! They have boundless enthusiasm and indulge in active dialogue with artworks by doing kinesthetic movements such as waving arms, mimicking expressions (portraits), hopping around sculptures, making open-mouthed expressions before extra large (scale) artworks etc. It seems kids make conscious efforts to interact with ART but unfortunately the static nature of most artworks (paintings & sculptures) makes the interaction one sided.

While reading ARTSCOPE, I came across the term "Interactive Art" and the concept is plain brilliance. These artworks are housed in a responsive environment and engage in continuous dialogue with the viewer. Here are some salient features of these artworks (that I found fascinating):

• Like a smart sensor-based electronic device (air conditioner thermostat, light controlled switch etc), these artworks basically seek input from viewer's movement, body temperature, voice pitch or touch etc & provide viewer with a pre-programmed response. 
• The viewer & artwork work together to create an experience & effect unique to each observer.
• Due to dynamic nature of artwork, they foster personalized human-machine interactions in a highly creative setting.
• The viewer experiences a state of total immersion and gets emotionally involved in no time. (One knows it isn't real but it feels so!)
• Some famous examples are Embankment, Irrational Geometrics or Test Site.

Here's  an interview by Camille Utterback, a renowned interactive installation artist, who keeps pushing boundaries with her awe-inspiring installations.

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody else has seen & thinking what nobody has thought.~Szent-Györgyi

[Image Courtesy-Camille Utterback]

Mathematics and Aesthetics...!

[Image Courtesy - Digikamera]

I've often wondered what is it that makes certain objects so appealing to us despite culture or geographical variations amidst the viewers? In general our attraction to another object increases if that entity appears symmetrical, proportionate and consistent.

Thanks to Judith (our teacher at Danforth's Docent Training Program), recently I learned that some of the best artworks do follow precision mathematics. The historical masterpieces have been proved to follow 'Divine Proportion', commonly known as 'Golden Ratio' in artworld. When Judith showed us the handouts, which explained how can one make a golden rectangle from an simple square, I was so thrilled ! We also learned that the ratios of distances in simple geometric figures such as the pentagon, pentagram, decagon and dodecahedron is a constant and is denoted by Greek letter phi. When I reached home and did my own research, I found some interesting facts, which I thought would be worth sharing:

• The symbol ("phi") was apparently first used by Mark Barr at the beginning of the 20th century in commemoration of the Greek sculptor Phidias, who a number of art historians claim made extensive use of the golden ratio in his works.(Source WA)
  
• One of the first programs people write when they learn Computer Programming is to write a code that generates Fibonnaci Series. They are told that one of the best ways to efficiently pack things tightly together is using the Fibonacci Sequence. This is reinforced by so many examples in nature such as poppy seed heads, flower petals, leaf arrangements etc.
  
• The Golden Ratio and Fibonacci sequence are intimately interconnected.
  
• Leonardo da Vinci's drawings of the human body emphasised "divine proportion'.
  
• So many aesthetically pleasing and structurally reliable objects around us (Amazing Watches, MP3 Players) follow golden ratio rule.

When I did a good amount of reading about golden ratio, I got this crazy idea while driving home fro work. Over this weekend, I carved out squares from few sheets of white paper, rubbed charcoal on them and then made a small star out - it somehow seemed interesting and nice! Try designing something say a cardboard candy box, a small rug or a study table using the "golden ratio" rule when you have some free time. Believe me you'll be totally amazed! Oh and yes you might find these tools handy for this exercise: Golden Ratio Calculator & Golden Section Gauge - Happy Creating :D

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."~Henri Matisse