One of the main keys to New Media Art and Design is interaction. Interactivity with art is something new that emerged from new technologies. In the past, people could only interact with the pieces by looking at them and examining them, but today, people can immerse themselves in the piece, from replication to emerging in the piece with AI. Interactivity before was something that wasn't used very often, and most pieces were something that you just looked at as something you could interact with.
Super Mario Bros., 1985 (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Video games are a prime example of interactivity with art. For video games to work, one must interact with the game to move the different characters and do the intentions of the game. While some video games are educational, most are for fun, creating an environment for people to get lost in.
Super Mario Bros is one of the earliest examples of this, providing a foundation for video games today. This is one of the earlier designs that is an 8-bit design that scrolls from left to right. Where the person playing the game has to move Mario through the worlds while dodging many obstacles, this game is very key on user interactivity because, without it, the game wouldn't work or function.
Virtual reality is another example of interactivity being key. For Virtual Reality to function with its intentions, the viewer must be willing to put themselves into the plains of what they are viewing. This can be very unnerving to a lot of people because sometimes what is seen can mess with your senses and make you think. While Virtual reality can be used for fun, it can also be used to get a message across. Artists have used this to their full advantage by immersing them fully in their message.
The Artist created this piece Real Violence to prove a point. This piece brought a lot of thoughts and feelings to the people who had to interact with the piece and experience it. To experience it, you must wait in line and then put the headset on. When this is done, then you are taken through the 2-minute video where you have to stand there and watch. You can't change the outcome or intervene; all you can do is sit there and watch the violence. This shows another way of interaction with new media art by showing how the new technology is being used to make a statement.
Jordan Wolfson, Real Violence, 2017
Michael Jackson, “Thriller,” 1982 Popcorn gif appears on YTMND in 2007
Memes created a new way of interacting with art. Not only can people view memes, but they can also share them with friends and give inside jokes and meaning to them, which wasn't something people tended to do with art. Memes also bring virality to art, giving even more interaction because not only are people sharing the art with friends, but companies and brands are using them to make money by making them go viral so they show up on social media.
The Michael Jackson Meme came years after the actual event had happened. But this depicts Michael Jackson eating popcorn and saying that they just came for the comments. This is a typical saying where people look at something and pull up the comments right away to see what drama is happening. Then, the other meme is of the same picture but with different captions showing the variety and interaction that people can do to change them to create their art and the meaning behind them.
Science Fiction is a newer type of art that is seen today. It has many mediums, from artworks to books to TV shows. Science fiction brings up a lot of questions about our interaction with technology and new media and how it can affect people. Most people, when they interact with science fiction, make them think a lot about the different topics it brings up. For example, for class, we had to watch Black Mirror, and they were eye-opening for a lot of people in the class, making us think about our world today. While this isn't the typical kind of interaction we expect from art, it makes us think and view the world in a new way, giving us a different kind of interaction with the artwork.
In the reading, Overextended Media: Hashtag, Hatred, and Domestic Drones by Hildebrand, we had to do for class on this topic, it talks all about how the Episode of Black Mirror titled Hated in the Nation brings awareness to a possibility in the future when it comes to social media, the government, and technology. It shows how many of us have become numb to our sources and the actual harm that can come if we are not careful. A quote that spoke to me in particular was, "The technological extension leads to a numbness that blurs the connection between human and medium" (pg. 180). This quote shows how many people are becoming numb to human qualities, and science fiction tries to interact with us not only to entertain but also to open our eyes to what we may be numb to.