Rieser, Interactivity, Public Art and Architecture

This article discusses the history and complexity of integrating art, architecture and the digital realm and also of the diminishing spatial distance between the subject and the object.

First, Rieser discusses some philosophies of physical presence and digital interaction. Calling forth the philosophies of Benjamin and Baudrillard, he talks about their belief that "the 'aura' of authenticity is lost in the world of media simulation". The creation of the "hyper-real" causes the truth to be lost in a world of "simulcra of simulations". On the other side of the spectrum is Gilles Deleuze who believes that the "simulacrum... [includes] the spectator and the spectator's viewpoint as the sustaining necessity of illusion". The simulacrum is not degraded art but is a representation of the idea of the original. Paul Virilio believes that the universe has split into two realities, the virtual and the actual so that it is not a "simulation" but an alternate reality.

There are origins of the mixture of the electronic arts in public displays throughout history and can be seen from the DaDa, Futurism, and Constructivism and the Bauhaus to the present day.The huge distance between architecture and art caused it to be difficult to integrate the two realms together. In fact, much of what we believe to be innovative was actually first discovered by the EAT - Experiments in Art and Technology, founded 1966. Some of the notable public displays were Rauschenberg's "Open Source" and "Soundings", and EATs Expo 70 Pavilion which emphasized the visitor's responsibility for their own experience.

Some more public displays were Johen and Ester Gerz's "the Moument against Facism"; Michael Hayden's "Arc en Ciel"; Edward Ichnatowicz's "the Senster"; Myron Kreuger's "Videoplace"; Toshio Iwai's "Another Time, Another Space"; Jeffrey Shaw's "The Legible City" and "Revolution"; Perry Hoberman's "Bar Code Hotel"; the BBC's "Mirror"; Char Davies's "Osmose"; Sommerer and Minnoneau's "Plant Growing"; Galloway and Rabinowitz's "Hole in Space"; Paul Sermon's "Telematic Dreaming"; Christian Moller's "Zeil Galerie" and "Electronic Mirror"; Simon Biggs's "Heaven"; "Screening the Virus"; Annie Lovejoy's "Watermark" and "Pause"; and Simon Poulter's UK Ltd.

With each generation of artists/architecture and with new emerging technologies, the space between the art and the audience slowly diminishes to the point where the viewer is a part of the art piece.