What can you learn from artists about engagement?

 

 

Touch lights by paperJAM

 

"In these challenging economic times, it is important that artists devise new ways to create, share, think, and dream about what is possible."  -  FIGMENT website

Figment, an anual event held in NYC (and several other cities across the country), is a festival of art that is interactive and participatory. "You touch it, smell it, write on it, talk to it, dance with it, play with it, learn from it. Interactive art creates a dynamic collaboration between the artist, the audience and their environment." (via figment.com)

What you end up is a pretty wild, and I mean untamed. Works range from whimsical or silly to amazing and even, quite possibly dangerous. But ultimately, it offers visitors a chance to consider the idea of engagement from a lot of perspectives.

 

A colorful, splashy enterance to an oversized tree house is a fun invitiation to investigate. Others presented a pathway or a mysterious opening encouraging curiousity. Still others ask a question or leave a mad-lib a fill in the blank to say "what's missing here? YOU!"

Anyone involved in communications, marketing, media etc. can learn a lot from artists who are experimenting with such interactivity.

 

Live! by Asha Ganpat

 

 

 

Face of Liberty by Zaq Landsberg