Readers and spectators are always implicitly involved in the creation of an artwork?perhaps as interpreters or as respondents. But what happens when that work explicitly invites one to collaborate in its fictional world, to act in its arena? We live in an increasingly interactive environment, where even our appliances respond to our spoken requests. How might we employ a critical awareness of our relationships to these new technologies and the people, places, and things with which they connect us? This course will survey a selection of art and entertainment from the last 50 years aimed at creating an interactive experience on the page, stage, gallery, or screen. We will focus on fictional worlds, though the line between fiction and actuality is especially blurry in the context of such immersive or interactive forms. We will witness the participation of others, and will ourselves practice playing with (and in) the work. Our study will focus on a range of interactive textual, embodied, and digital artworks, both experimental and popular, and will make use of theoretical frameworks from a number of disciplines, including literary studies, media studies, performance studies, visual art, philosophy, and sociology. Together we will ask: What do we mean by interaction, participation, or agency in a fictional world? How is it different from activity in the actual world? What are the limits and possibilities afforded by its promise? How might an increasingly interactive cultural landscape alter our understanding of narrative or storytelling, of subjectivity and even free will? How might participation encourage empathy toward those with different perspectives or backgrounds? What are the political and social consequences of an increasingly participatory art?
- Teacher: Daniel Sack