Field Report #3 (2nd Go-round) pt 1

1. "Untitled 5"

Experiencing this interactive piece is like becoming the brush in a painting. As I stepped on to the floor mat/sensor I immediately felt as if i were apart of a typical abstract painting with the exception that it was ever-changing because of my movements. My mind continued to sort out how my particular movements affected the visual aspect of the painting on screen. I wanted to be able to control my movements and have them reflect what I wanted interpreted on screen. To do this I had to discover the boundaries of the piece and the cause and effect of my movements.

This was not so easily accomplished. McKinnon suggested, "that there are no immediate clear perimeters" and that "it had no likeness of yourself to help guide." This made it take longer to figure out. After figuring out how to move my body and how the "on screen" brush correlated with me, the brush strokes changed shape and pattern and added a new variable to what was being drawn. It was as if a painter started painting yellow and then dipped his brush in red and altered the pattern with a new twist. The same basic guidelines remained intake (movement of my body to what happens on screen) but the variable of the stroke had changed. This spontaneous change was very welcomed and added a sense of wonder of what would next happen? Do I really have complete control of what is being painted on screen? I may be able to make the stroke, but I have no choice in what color or pattern it displays. While it is very interactive in a mobile/movement sense, I feel like the computer programed into it prevented me from having complete control as if a standard brush with paint on canvas would have.

Someday... I think that this approach will be an alternative to hanging static paintings as decor in one's house. Instead, guests at a dinner party will walk into a room and see a screen hanging on a wall interpreting their movements, making a unique painting every second. This ever-changing venue will provide a different experience every time, thus making the room more exciting than having the same non-changing painting hanging. I can see it now... the future of paintings.