Jenny Odell Satellite Prints

The Satellite Collection by Jenny Odell is a series of six digital collages. Odell found the images for the collages using Google Satellite and then sorted the images into categorized like pools, water towers etc. My two favourites are 195 Cargo Ships, Barges, Motorboats, Yachts, Tankers, Cruise Ships, Riverboats, Sailboats and Hospital Ship and 81 Square Miles of the Great Salt Lake. These collages are my favourites as they combine a grid pattern with a scale.
The final printed collages are not interactive at all but the processes of their creation shares a lot with interactive installation. Firstly there is an interactive element in the searching for the images used; Odell had to interact with Google Satellite to find the images. Secondly like a lot of interactive installation there is an element of data being sorted to produce an visual elements, in The Satellite Collection the images have been sorted into objects.

Even though these collages where interactive in their creation I don't feel that they can be classified as interactive art as there was no audience involved in their creation. The main interesting point about these collages is how readily available software like Google Satellite can be used in the creation of interactive installation.

Listening Post

Listening Post 2001 by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin is an interactive installation with two very big differences. The audience instead of interacting with the piece are forced to watch how unsuspecting users of the internet interact with the web. The Science Museum has informative article on Listening Post on their website(click here)
Here a few more links
Ear Studio
Frieze Magazine
Mark Hansen

Portrait Machine 2009

Portrait Machine, 2009, by British artist Theo Watson and Kyle McDonald is an interactive photography installation which visualizes the connections between visitors of CBK Amsterdam. This is done by first allowing the visitor to take a picture of them self using a fixed camera. The visitor can see what the cameras views though a large LCD screen which is positioned vertically, a bit like a photo booth. The photograph is then stored along with all the other visitors’ photographs. These Photographs are then sorted based on a number of features, such as clothing choice, hair colour, facial expression, and composition within the frame. The installation projects both the similarities and differences in these characteristic though three LCD screens (the LCD screens are positioned vertically and in a row) each one showing one photograph of a visitor.  Portrait Machine purposes is to make the visitor aware of human connectedness and uniqueness though creating strong visual patterns and playful juxtapositions. Portrait Machine really fulfils its purpose as an interactive installation. When the visitors photograph is project on one of the LCD screens it either shows their uniqueness compare to the other visitor or their similarlest. During the short Vimeo video I found it interesting how the visitors interacted with the camera creativity to trick the installation in to creating more playfully juxtapositions of the photographs. This got me thinking how an Interactive installation could evoke the audience into trying more creative action, thing etc with digital media.

Iamnotanartist.org

Iamnotanartist.org is a blog of animated GIF commissioned by Elisava School of design. The concept, creative direction and design is by soon in Tokyo, a communication agency made up of former Elisava students and teachers. The blog is made of a grid of animated GIF which are created by viewers of the blog. The users create their own GIF by using the build in GIF generator. The GIF generator allows the viewers to create GIFs by uploading each frame of the GIF, Using their web camera to capture each frame of the GIF or uploading a GIF which the viewer has already made. The first 56 animated GIF where directed by Johnny Kelly and Matthew Cooper. Kelly and Cooper’s selection of GIFs are made up of photography and vector drawings, all in a very bold style consisting of geometric shapes. The stated aim of the blog is to “grow and be platform with the participation of young designers and creative’s from all over the world”. The blog is very interactive as it draws the viewers into interacting with it, the GIF generator, and thus allows it to fill full its intended purpose to grow and expand with the participation of young designers and creative’s from all over the world. This blog brings up the question whether the original creator of the blog id the artist or is it the viewer who are creating its content. Another interesting point is dose interactive art need to be physical or can it exits on-line and how can interactive art work be exhibit if it exits solely on-line.