From illustrations to an interactive art installation
| Date | 11 May 2015 |
| Published date | 11 May 2015 |
| Pages | 130-145 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-02-2014-0007 |
| Author | Erika Pavlin,Žiga Elsner,Tadej Jagodnik,Borut Batagelj,Franc Solina |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance |
From illustrations to an
interactive art installation
Erika Pavlin
Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana,
Ljubljana, Slovenia, and
Žiga Elsner, Tadej Jagodnik, Borut Batagelj and Franc Solina
Faculty of Computer and Information Science,
University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to set an example of how people with severe learning
difculties could be more integrated into our society.
Design/methodology/approach – The installation consists of puzzles in the form of a specially
designed table with an integrated touch screen. As the visual templates for the puzzles serve pictures
painted by a person with severe learning difculties. The pieces of the puzzles are manipulated directly
by the player on the touch screen presenting an intuitive and easily learned user interface.
Findings – The framework for the work was a creation of an interactive art installation in the form of
a game where users assemble puzzles on a touch monitor, housed in a specially designed table.
Paintings by a person with severe learning difculty served as visual templates for the puzzles. The
pieces of the puzzles can be manipulated directly by the user on a touch screen presenting an intuitive
and easily learned user interface, which stimulates the learning of ne motor skills and encourages
practice, thus making it suitable for persons with severe learning difculties in an art therapy setting.
Practical implications – As the work has the format of an interactive art installation, this enables it
to gain publicity through exhibitions in art galleries.
Social implications – The installation demonstrates how people with severe learning difculties can
be integrated into the broader society. At the same time, these people are encouraged to use modern
computer information technology, which is becoming a necessity also for this group of users. Ethical
issues regarding how this group of people can get involved in such work are also discussed.
Originality/value – Combining the habituation of people with severe learning difculties with
computer technology in the form of a game, and framing the whole process as a ne art undertaking, to
win the public recognition, is a novelty in addressing the needs of these people.
Keywords Art therapy, Computer games, Human-computer interface design,
Severe learning difculties
Paper type Case study
1. Introduction
The motivation for this work was to raise the awareness that people with severe
learning difculties exist in our midst. These people have special needs, but they should
be integrated into our society as much as possible while the society must at the same
time accept their differences. Most people with severe learning difculties are born into
this condition so that this ethically based goal is grounded also in the Declaration of the
Rights of the Child (adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1959) and in the later
Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted in 1989), which states in one of its
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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JICES
13,2
130
Received 8 March 2014
Revised 15 May 2014
6 June 2014
Accepted 6 June 2014
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.13 No. 2, 2015
pp.130-145
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-02-2014-0007
principles: “The child who is physically, mentally or socially handicapped shall be given
the special treatment, education and care required by his particular condition”. The
contemporary comprehension of this principle is that such children and grownups, who
require special treatment, should not be isolated in some special institutions but should
participate in the broader society as much as possible, taking into consideration their
difculties at the same time.
To achieve this goal, we decided to involve people with severe learning difculties in
artistic activity, whose results could be exhibited in a gallery, giving their achievements
public exposure to integrate them and give them a sense of personal worth. Why is art
probably the most appropriate vehicle to achieve this goal? The French phenomenological
philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1993, p. 127) argued in his essay Eye and Mind that
art, specically painting, displays the act of viewing the world with openness and
immersion that is more truly representative of the continuum of our existence. In fact,
the therapeutic inuence of art has been known for a long time. Relevant to present time
and society, we decided to frame our goal in the paradigm of new media art, which gives
to persons with severe learning difculties an additional advantage. Namely, exposure
and learning of new computer-based technology, which is becoming a necessity even for
these people. Computer technology enables an interactive, tactile approach to the
creation and use of new media artwork, which is an additional benet to people with
severe learning difculties by raising their body awareness.
This kind of work, which involves people with severe learning difculties, raises
additional ethical dilemmas. These ethical dilemmas are usually discussed in the
framework of action-oriented or participatory research with people with learning,
communication and other disabilities (Nind, 2008, pp. 4-9). At issue is the question of
possible exploitation of such vulnerable people, which is reected in the rst
methodological decision to be made, namely, whether the work is to be done on or with
people with severe learning difculties. We clearly aim in our work for a participatory or
even emancipatory relationship with affected people. The primary form of their
engagement is learning by playing. The game format is not coercive by any means. The
engagement of participants can stop at any time, but due to the immersive experience of
playing, their engagement is more intensive and lasts longer. In the project that we
describe in this article, we strive to empower the persons with severe learning
difculties by enhancing their knowledge and understanding of the world and their
place in it.
The project, which is at the center of this article, therefore tries by means of
computer-based technology to integrate two, usually very disparate areas, the world of
people with severe learning difculties and new media art.
A substantial part of contemporary art moved away from the production of artifacts
toward organizing events or providing services. In the post-industrial society innovations,
the use of new technologies, originality and individuality are gaining in importance. Art
which is following these trends and using new technologies is simply different from the older
art, it is post-objective (Benjamin, 1980, pp. 471-508; Strehovec, 1998, pp. 114-150). The
meaning of authorship in modern art has also changed and appreciation of art has evolved
from pure contemplation to a much more active relationship with the viewer or participant
(Groys, 2002, pp. 121-130). A patron of contemporary new media art expects contents that
can be modied, added to or interacted with.
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Interactive art
installation
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