Media Interaction in Public (Spaces). Researching Interactive Installations Support for (Inter-)Human Interaction with Machines and Environment

Abstract

This paper deals with media interaction in public, understood as a complex communication scenario combining interhuman and human-machine interaction that gives rise to flexible actor-spectator constellations at the junction of digital and physical spaces. These features coincide especially in interactive installations, which therefore provide a fruitful scenario to research media interaction in public. The authors analyze two interactive installations in the domains of gaming and critical new media art, offering insights into the appropriation of the artworks' grammar of interaction, their potential for the rise of new interaction ensembles, and the associated influence on people's environmental awareness.