Designing the Unexpected : Endlessly Fascinating Interaction for Interactive Installations

Abstract

We present A Delicate Agreement, an interactive art installation designed to intrigue viewers by offering them an unfolding story that is endlessly fascinating. To achieve this, we set our story in the liminal space of an elevator, and populated this elevator with a set of unique characters. Viewers watch the story unfold through peepholes in the elevator’s doors, where in turn their gaze can trigger changes in the storyline. This storyline’s interactive response was created via a complex adaptive system using simple rules based on Goffman’s performance theory.