Understanding

Candidate: So-young Park
Type: Master of Applied Science, Interactive Art (MASc-IA), School of Interactive Arts and Technology
Date: April 7, 2006
Senior Supervisor: Ron Wakkary, Associate Professor
Thesis: Download Thesis Document

Abstract

This paper concerns Umberto Eco‘s “open work" as a methodology for Interactive Art. I examine open work in its original social and cultural contexts, and probe its potential as a methodology.

Eco's “open work” is concerned with the process of making of art rather than with any finished artwork. He posits two components of open work: a multiplicity of meanings, and audience participation. In open work, artists create artwork in a way that allows the audience to construct multiple meanings. This is a contingent process, and the degree of openness is the measure of its contingency. Interactive Art's digital technology makes open work a promising methodology, but this requires two layers of openness: contemplative (Ecos’s concept) and structural (a specific quality of Interactive Art). And finally, open work can use computing as a creative process and can enhance the artistic goals of community and play.

Keywords: Open work, Umberto Eco, Audience participation, Interactive art, Digital media