This thesis clarifies the interdisciplinary field of interactive installations in digital media and digital art. As an interdisciplinary field, interactive installations emphasize three dimension; bodily interaction beyond restricted mouse clicking; physical interfaces using digital technologies that can reconfigure a space; particular forms of participants' engagement. To investigate these interactive installation artifacts in greater detail, this thesis adapts a theoretical perspective from performance studies using epistemic, critical, and constitutive qualities to investigate interactive installations as performance. First, epistemic qualities explore how embodied interactions prompt participants' engagement. Second, critical qualities encourage participants to ask questions and explore issues. Lastly, constitutive qualities address how participants actuate new configurations by interacting with installations. This thesis applies the epistemic, critical, and constitutive aspects and its theoretical discourse to interactive installations. With two works, Please Smile (2012) and Hooray (2013), it probes these effects in an additional user study of both works. Using the quantitative and qualitative results of a questionnaire and participant interviews, it also analyzes how participants engage with Please Smile and Hooray and respond both emotionally and physically.

Interactive installations in public settings have increased in popularity over the past decade, as well as the construction of digital musical instruments. In this paper I present a study of the interaction with a large sized augmented string instrument intended for a large installation in a museum, with focus on encouraging creativity, learning, and providing engaging user experiences. In the study, 9 participants were video recorded while playing with the string on their own, followed by an interview focusing on their experiences, creativity, and the functionality of the string. I then used McCarthy and Wright’s framework for analysing technology as experience and Frank E Williams creativity taxonomy model to analyse the results. In line with previous research, results highlight the importance of designing for different levels of engagement (exploration, experimentation, challenge). However, results additionally show that these levels need to consider the users’ age and musical background as these profoundly affect the way the user plays with and experiences the string. / Interaktiva installationer i offentliga miljöer har ökat i popularitet under det senaste decenniet, liksom även skapandet av digitala musikinstrument. I denna uppsats presenterar jag en studie av interaktionen med ett stort augmenterat stränginstrument avsedd för en stor installation i ett museum, med fokus på att uppmuntra kreativitet, lärande, och att ge engagerande användarupplevelser. I studien blev 9 deltagare videoinspelade samtidigt som de spelade med strängen på egen hand, följt av en intervju med fokus på deras upplevelse, kreativitet, och strängens funktionalitet Jag använde sedan McCarthy och Wrights ramverk för att analysera teknik som upplevelse och Frank E Williams kreativitets taxonomi för att analysera resultaten. I linje med tidigare forskning så betonar resultaten vikten av att designa för olika nivåer av engagemang (undersökande, experimenterande, utmaning). Dock så visar resultaten dessutom på att dessa nivåer måste ta hänsyn till användarnas ålder och musikaliska bakgrund då dessa starkt påverkar hur användaren spelar med och upplever strängen.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Julia Camille Blumenschein.pdf: 51220053 bytes, checksum: 59459b6806cfe5846d1dabdfd705ec7e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-07-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This essay aims to discuss and problematize the process of development of art works of a collective. To achieve this, questions that involve the net creation, the Umwelt concept and aesthetics experience are tackled. To reach the process itself, models and different creation stages are proposed to develop a methodology from the study of phases. It pursuits to use a whole basis to analyse the process, since that creation cannot be understood as being linear and also there are oscillations during the works elaboration, in a continuous net of influences  as much objective  as subjective exchanges.   The documents of the process of the art group SCIArts are used, as declarations of the members in dialog with specialists of various areas. As bibliographic reference, the reflection is based upon the studies of Salles, Shustermann, Dewey, Uexküll, Lévy, Laurentiz and artists such as Oiticica and Duchamp, since the research has a multidisciplinary domain. It perceives the process and appraises how the group struggle with questions that appear during the art-making and that modifies the work in progress. This essay is within the field of aesthetic technology, especially at installation-based art domain, works developed by the mentioned collective. Is intended to evaluate the relations between technologies and the creative process and also to reach part of the complexity of the collaborative and multidisciplinary art-making / A presente dissertação discute e problematiza o processo de desenvolvimento e de obras de arte de um coletivo. Para isso, são abordadas questões que envolvem a criação em rede, discussão sobre coletivos inteligentes, conceito de Umwelt e experiência estética. Para abarcar a questão do processo, são propostos modelos de autoria bem como fases da criação, a fim de desenvolver uma metodologia a partir do estudo por etapas. Procura-se utilizar uma base holística para avaliação do processo criativo, pois a criação não pode ser entendida como linear e há oscilações durante a gestação de obras numa contínua rede de influências e trocas tanto objetivas quanto subjetivas. São utilizados documentos de processo do grupo SCIArts, bem como depoimentos dos integrantes em diálogo com teóricos de áreas diversas. Como referencial teórico, a reflexão se fundamenta nos estudos de Salles, Shustermann, textos de Dewey, Uexküll, Lévy, Laurentiz e artistas como Oiticica e Duchamp por ser uma pesquisa de caráter multidisciplinar. Observa-se o processo e avalia-se a maneira como o grupo lida com questões que surgem durante o fazer artístico e modificam a obra em desenvolvimento. A presente dissertação insere-se no campo das estéticas tecnológicas, mais especificamente em instalações interativas, obras mais desenvolvidas pelo coletivo em questão. Procura-se avaliar as relações existentes entre tecnologias e processos criativos, bem como abranger parte da complexidade do fazer artístico colaborativo e multidisciplinar na arte contemporânea

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliana Caetano Neto.pdf: 5965216 bytes, checksum: c4943a44b0fbf91c92b412aad919ca7b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / As the artistic movements, the act of story telling has changed considerably due to technical advances. Mobile devices have influenced the creation of unusual narratives that investigate, among other things, the relationship between space and individual. This essay intends to discuss the changes that this relationship has suffered due to the spread of pervasive computing, and how these changes enabled the emergence of new trends in aesthetic technology. Mobile devices of communication re-invent urban environments, such as multiplayer connected environments independent of the geographical position and physical presence, encouraging the emergence of hybrid spaces, which is defined by the disappearance of borders between physical and virtual and created by a constant mobility of users who use handsets. As theoretical support, the thinking is based on studies of André Lemos, Lúcia Santaella, Milton Santos, Pierre Lévy, and artists such as Jeremy Hight, the English Blast Theory. The essay intends to introduce a scenario of aesthetic technology based on mobile devices and the public spaces, and through an specific case show how is the relationship between narrative and technologies in hybrid spaces / Assim como os movimentos artísticos, o ato de narrar, de contar histórias, também se transformou consideravelmente com os avanços técnicos. Os dispositivos móveis têm influenciado criações narrativas inusitadas e que investigam, entre outras coisas, a relação entre espaço e indivíduo. A presente dissertação discute as transformações que essa relação tem sofrido devido à disseminação da computação pervasiva, e de que forma essas transformações propiciaram o surgimento de novas tendências da estética tecnológica. Os dispositivos móveis de comunicação re-inventam espaços urbanos como ambientes de multiusuários conectados independentemente da posição geográfica e presença física, favorecendo o surgimento de espaços híbridos, ou seja, definidos pelo desaparecimento das bordas entre físico e virtual e criados pela constante mobilidade dos usuários que utilizam aparelhos portáteis. Como referencial teórico, a reflexão se fundamenta nos estudos de André Lemos, Lúcia Santaella, Milton Santos, Pierre Lévy, e artistas como Jeremy Hight e o grupo inglês Blast Theory por ser uma pesquisa de caráter multidisciplinar. O recorte feito visa introduzir um cenário estético tecnológico com dispositivos móveis com foco em espaços públicos e através de um estudo de caso apresentar a relação entre criação narrativa em espaços híbridos