A priority for me on while running this stall is being able to communicate with a wide range of people. When I am making any kind of interactive work, I am constantly running possible audience reactions through in my mind. As I am not an optimist, a good deal of these reactions are not positive. As I am not a pessimist either, I get fascinated with finding ways to use negative impulses rather than brushing them off as people who just don't get it. If someone doest get it, I haven't done my job well enough. The more I work interactively, the more I am interested in the people who turn away, who hover in the background, who are suspicious of art, who don't care.
The first fete games I made for The Fete Encounter, and later for Home Live Art, were deliberate moves to make work for audience elements who were difficult to engage. And I don't mean particular groups or types. I mean individual people. This developed as I ran the games more and more, and found its way into successive projects. Jettisons of Bude was built entirely around flipping a negative to engage people on the point of a moan, and let them leave with a warm heart.
So in this, I am looking to make sure I have enough tools around me to be able to interact with very different types of people who like to communicate in different ways. The stall will be manned by me alone, so I'm making things that people can interact with and I can move between them, hopefully facilitating dialogue, making connections, opening little experiences. I have the wooden computer running Pinnochion#1 for people to talk to. I can also open up the hood (with a padlock and key) so folks can see how it works. The office will give people a chance to experience being an AI. The memory beads can give people a chance to make something to take home with them. And the copy-box gives people something to be part of, and to hopefully draw them to the site after to see what they have made collectively. The aesthetic of each is slightly different so that could appeal to different people. I never know till I try it out how the balance of it all works, but the basic idea is I give myself enough tools to give as many people as possible a unique, curious and enjoyable interaction. An experience that can be totally throwaway and demand nothing, while at the same time have potential to open up a lot.
With a project like this, because it is a Science themed event, I'm expecting people to be asking questions. Mostly, that will be conversational, and a good chance to make connections. However, some people just like to RTFM (Read The Frakking Manual). So I'm making that an option too. First off, I've been printing out Pinnochion#1's conversations, and have bound them in a nice green in-world office binding.
