ABSTRACTThe article describes the making of an art piece combining stone sculpture and virtual water. The motivation for this art piece was to enrich the usual static format of a stone sculpture with a dynamic dimension. The dynamic dimension is attained with virtual water droplets running over the stone surface which behave as real water droplets. The 3-D surface of a specially carved stone sculpture is during an exhibition continuously captured by the Kinect sensor. Each water drop out of many thousands, which are introduced into the installation as evenly distributed rain drops, falling over the sculpture, are simulated individually to run over the stone surface following the largest slope. These simulated water drops are projected with a video projector as light points on the surface of the sculpture. An observer can enjoy simultaneously the haptic experience of touching the stone and observing a digitally generated but physically grounded animation.

ABSTRACTThis paper will discuss how the conceptualization of embodied, abstract notions such as pain, which is multi-modal, non-visual and subjective, has the potential to be communicated visually using model making, as it is traditionally understood in the fields of architecture and design. We propose a new methodological approach to research where Gadamer’s [2004. Truth and Method. Continuum International Publishing Group] understanding of intersubjective interpretation used in conjunction with Simulation theory [Gallese, V., and A. Goldman. 1998. “Mirror Neurons and the Simulation Theory of Mind-Reading.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2 (12): 493–501] in embodied cognitive science, provides a strong framework in which to formulate a palette of materials and forms to visualize subjective experience. This novel approach to design research is currently being undertaken within the field of Health Sciences to produce metaphorically provocative, descriptive models of the lived experience of people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) to help bridge the gap in understanding between the sufferer and the public. This paper seeks to engage briefly with two questions integral to the research being undertaken: how does one understand another’s pain, and how can one conceptualize and communicate abstract notions such as pain visually using material and form as language?

ABSTRACTThe main idea behind the development of the art project discussed in this artistic contribution, called MNEMODRONE, is to have people share private memories with a drone and then use those memories to create an artificial intelligence. Is it possible for a machine to act based on collective memories? Although there is not a definitive answer, I discuss the ideas behind the project: the problem of quantifying nonhuman forms of consciousness, a model for the drone's artificial intelligence and the advantages of a post-anthropocentric artistic investigation. The second half of my contribution discusses the limits of post-anthropocentric creativity and proceeds more speculatively, proposing a theoretical model of metamorphosis that could be useful for understanding technology and also for artificial intelligent systems to understand humans. My contribution advocates for a creative analysis of future scenarios, both technological and cultural, beyond the boundaries of traditional methodologies. I conclude with a fictional interview that could eventually take place between an interviewer and MNEMODRONE. This fictional interview allows the artwork to speak for itself, and is based on the data collected by the drone in its first year of activities, mimicking its discursive capabilities once the artificial intelligence is fully developed.

We explore design strategies for mixed reality (MR) in relation to Milgram's definition, which has been central to its development in the past 20 years. We argue for the need to rethink the technical focus of this definition in order to capture the experiential dimensions of MR and offer a humanistic framework for a growing class of experiences that we label MRx. We list three characteristics of MRx applications (esthetic, performative and social) and provide a context for the three subsequent articles in this special issue.

This article provides one component of a new interdisciplinary, humanities-based framework for MRx design and criticism along with Engberg and Bolter's article, “MRx and the Aesthetics of Locative Writing and JafariNaimi's article, “MRx as a Participatory Platform. As defined in the introductory article for this series, MRx experiences are conceptualised as site-specific; hybrid; and aesthetic, performative and/or social. This article develops a performance studies and theatre history perspective on MRx. By outlining historical examples relevant to contemporary MRx practice, a set of best practices are derived. These strategies are conceptualised as central questions, which are then applied in the analysis of four examples of recent MRx works, along with suggestions for how these strategies may be used during the design process.

Cave paintings bear witness that, early in human cultural development, art and the means to create it (technology) became a method of expression and translation of human interconnectedness with nature defined as the non-human-made world. Contemporary new media artists interacting with nature through the medium of digital technologies in situ continue this exploration within the genre referred to as “digital eco-art”. LocoMotoArt, an independently powered creative field system, was used as a vehicle for conducting media arts practice in natural settings during a three-year qualitative field research project. Findings indicate that human–technology–nature interconnectedness is a possible conduit for establishing a role for digital technology beyond social networking, computing, information gathering and gaming to engage with nature. We argue that digital eco-artists are at the vanguard of creating a new sense of aesthetic and environmental engagement, proportions of which emerge as transformative possibilities. The art experience of digital eco-art can change from being a contemplative one to a living experience.

This article introduces Pulse Project (2011–), a doctoral performance research project that engages in critical discourse between art and science through the creation of digital soundscapes that weave together artistic, medical, technological, ancient and modern methodologies. Pulse ‘reading’, case histories, notations of pulses and programming soundscape compositions are all used together as methods for exploring the cultural encounter between artist, participants and diverse medical practices. Pulse Project seeks to provide an examination of the means with which the temporal materiality of touch can be used together with audio programming to form a translation and synthesis of different ecologies and disciplines, e.g. medicine and art, Eastern and Western practices, touch and digitality, etc. Drawing upon my experience as a clinical acupuncturist (with training in biomedicine), I use Chinese pulse diagnostics together with SuperCollider (an audio synthesis programming language) to inform the composition process of each soundscape. In this way, Pulse Project interrogates the aesthetic and philosophical axioms underpinning contemporary medicine, technology and cognitive embodiment through the exploration of their corollary ‘others’—traditional Chinese medicine and music theory—in order to generate a fresh approach to embodiment and soundscape composition.

Art Space is edited by Sue Gollifer, University of Brighton, UK; Director of ISEA International Headquarters

As museums extend their scope beyond traditional exhibition spaces and into everyday practices and institutions, it is necessary to develop suitable conceptualisations of how technology can be understood and designed. To this end, I propose the concept of infrastructures, as both social and material, as a useful frame for discussing important challenges and opportunities in terms of designing for audience engagement. I further argue that when designing infrastructures, an important challenge is to develop the social aspects of infrastructures in terms of creating, maintaining and developing relationships between organisations and communities. I argue that this is as much an object of design as technical interactive systems and discuss the relational work undertaken in this activity. The ideas of infrastructure and relational work is illustrated through a case describing the design of a system for cultural heritage engagement for Danevirke museum covering issues relating to the Danish minority in northern Germany.