<x-rich><excerpt> <fontfamily><param>Comic_Sans_MS</param>I believe that art, is an expression of emotion and feelings. It is the pure expression of anything, a representation. Being not only a dancer but a painter/artist... I feel that when an "artist" performs or expresses, it should be up to that person what is expressed, but it is entirely up to the audience if it is perceived as art. </fontfamily></excerpt><fontfamily><param>Comic_Sans_MS</param> </fontfamily>Julie You're perfectly entitled to hold this view - art is what it is perceived to be, after all. It distresses me, though, and seems awfully narrow in its definition. It's been some time since the notion of the "artist's expression" was considered the only valid one - indeed perhaps there was only a narrow slice of time when this ever applied. Even in the 17th and 18th centuries, composers were writing scores that were meant to be interpreted, freely, by the performer, and scores contained both overt and implied spaces for various degrees of improvisation. So, too, with "interactive" art. I hate to try to come up with a definitive description of what interactive art is, but it is certainly an artform that allows for a great degree of freedom in its interpretation, sometimes even in its forms, and occasionally even in its materials. The artist, in this case, (although let's use the word, maker, as it's perhaps less ambiguous)... the maker has chosen to give up certain elements of control to the audience, or interactor, or participant. These forms can be installation, immersive, screen-based or stage-based, or any combination thereof. As to the question of whether these forms can be considered art...again, I find the question itself disturbing, but the answer is a very simple one. Why not? Certainly a good percentage of so-called interactive dance pieces that I've seen (and all the one I've made!) fit your definition above. But there are many other definitions of "art", too. r R i c h a r d P o v a l l Senior Fellow, RESCEN (Centre for Research into Creation in the Performing Arts), Middlesex University (in assoc. with the South Bank, London) ========================= Court Gate Cottage, Harbourneford, South Brent, Devon TQ10 9DT UK. Home/Studio: +44 (0)1364 72044 Fax: +44 (0)1364 72046 </x-rich>
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