Breaking the Silence: transforming visitor experience through media art in public spaces
This practice-led research project seeks insights into how media arts that involve sound and interactive elements augment art viewing experiences in a public space. Public art spaces often attempt to enhance social atmospheres and have undergone transformations to adapt to different mediums for the presentation of the arts. The perception of viewing art in a silent space is changing and yet silence still dominates most art spaces in Aotearoa and beyond. As art forms expand to become more interactive, sound and visual elements have the potential to be activated to create social experiences. This research aims to open up exhibition spaces so sound can break through to create a different, more sonorous landscape. I have surveyed several examples of sound art within public spaces in Tāmaki Makaurau and propose that sound art can extend into a full experience of an interactive art work. I create interactive spaces through the use of sound, video and sensors for people to listen and interactively respond more intimately to their environment.
