I spent some time last week thinking how to get people to interact with Arena, what it is that encourages them to slow down and notice it. Not only kids, who immediately want to run around it but people of all ages. After looking at other places where one can see people gathering just to sit around I noticed that fountains, or any structures with water running through them for that matter, tend to attract people. However, since the site already runs along the river this solution seemed not only too obvious but also not the most appropriate.
At some point I gave up and took a step back. And then it struck me: what I really want to propose is not a solution that will get people to actively interact with the sculpture and site but rather something that will involve them as they rush past the place.
I started looking at interactive art for some more indirect and abstract solutions and ideas. The first I came across was the impressive work of an architect and artist Thomas McIntosh, called Ondulation. The 'temporal sculpture', as the artist referred to it, translates sound waves into a visual experience. The artist placed sound speakers under a huge basin filled with two tons of water. The sound waves from the speakers trigger the water to ripple into more and more complex waves as the music becomes more complex too. This is lit and projected onto the wall for the viewers to have a full audio visual experience.
What this triggered, was an idea of linking different elements to get a new and unique solution. I also liked the directness and simplicity of the work, done without digital translation but by purely mechanical means and thus very direct.
I realised what kind of solution/proposal I had been looking for: an installation of lights triggered by the movement of people passing by.
To begin with I returned to my records of the site to find if there is a traffic pattern around the Arena and, indeed, people do tend to walk around it along four main paths, ignoring the remaining, less direct ways to pass it.
That would give an initial ideas how to locate sensors and lights to trigger and place the installation.
I have thought of several triggers worth consideration and giving different results:
shadow
movement
noise
movement
noise
There are also many ways in which the lights can be placed as well as the kind of lights to be used, again leaving me with a whole array of choices and results that I could get.
One thing about the installation idea is that it brings me back to my initial points of focus: light and shadow as well as drawing peoples' attention to the site. This time, however, it is visitors' actions that trigger the lights and effectively surprise them.
The best place to begin with is to place the lighting in the overshadowed areas of the sculpture, where it rises off the ground creating dark corners.
Another way to do it is to have the light projected upward or at an angle and moving, sweeping the area. With this option it would also make sense to install the cameras to film the movement, however this again raises a number of questions regarding programming the movement and its direction.
At this point what I'm left with is extensive research both into the site possibilities and technology/setup limitations and options.