Max Kickinger
A forest made of graphite rods that sway and ring, - what ´s the story
Who are you though- What is Fishing For Compliments up to?
behind that?
Max: We are: Sebastian Neitsch, Jan Bernstein, Woeishi Lean and myself.
Max Kickinger: we see Nemore as an experiment . We wanted to research
Fishing for Compliments is about contextualizing technology with emoti-
how visitors react to the movement of the rods. We confirmed that the
on. Mobile user devices and our association with them have undoubtedly
installations worked according to the typical interaction pattern: input by
changed our daily life profoundly. Our own behaviour vis a vis these ma-
man, output by machine.
chines promotes the simulation of a one-sided understanding : the machines read our gestures, and carry out operations.- mobile phones, computers ,
How did the visitors react? To what degree could the visitors demonstrate
park machines, vending machines and so on. Now, only recently integrated
any reaction at all as they walked through the forest?
in our daily life – ever-present in your pocket, you have the touch-panel. As
Max: the visitor inter-acted with the forest merely by virtue of being there.
far as interactivity is concerned, many of these devices remain at the level of
As soon as he is over the threshold every visitor becomes an actor. It was
the traditional TV set of the eighties: Input- transformation-output.
super: the visitors explored the instalation in a playful way. From a surprised fascination to shivers down the back at the uncanny movements of
So you could hardly find a better arena for your research than Schmiede?
the rods, it was all there.
Max: This was my third time at the Schniede- for Fishing for Compliments
Low threshhold exploration of the behaviour of the robot Nemore affords
it was the first time. Schmiede offers us space that off our own bat would be
people a playful, subliminal approach to technolgy: a palpable reaching out
hard arrange. The gathering of a hundred different people from such a va-
to a haptic machine that is not just a projection on a screen.
riety of disciplines of course, offers great opportunities for exchanges about
If you call with a mobile (cell) phone and it vibrates, it wouldn´t occur to
work and experience. And we were glad too, to meet up again with friends
anybody that this could be a symptom of cold or anxiety. To what extent
for whom it has become the focal point of the whole year.
though, does the context change if a prior human touch evokes the mechanical reaction? The work of Fishing For Compliments examines social contexts in which mechanical sequences can be assigned to organic gestures and a display of feeling. How have your experiments worked out in this context? What do you plan to do with your findings? Max: We have observed as well as documented.The visitor´s reactions are important to us because the whole thing depends on interaction in order to function. Our experiences with Nemore at the Schmiede will, of course, be of use to us for the further development of “garden” behaviour.
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