Salka Posted June 2, 2012 Hello all I've been given the brief for my final year dissertation. It's as you would imagine a dissertation brief to look. I already wrote a critical study this year which was meant to be a sort of lead-up to a dissertation. The hardest part was thinking of a topic that I wouldn't mind spending 6 months researching and writing about. I'm an Illustration student so it would be good if the subject was related to this. I am interested in immersive, interactive art, and not just from the point of view of Video games... although I have been interested in how, for instance, Happy Action Theatre basically creates illustrated environments for people to explore, and how that could be used in conjunction with book illustrations to blah blah blah interactive blah blah book blah. I'm not sure how any of this could tie-in with a dissertation. Anyway I thought maybe you guys, being the geniuses that you all are, might spark some kind of discussion which would help me get a firmer idea of what I could do. Last year I found talking about things with people really helped, but my ability to do that this year with 'real life' people is severely limited as I'm working 7 days a week, and also working on an unpaid project, doing band stuff, and basically have no time to speak to real people anymore ever Also academically speaking I'm a total fuckwit, but once I have a firmer idea of the stuff I want to research hopefully it'll be easier. Sorry this is a bit vague, I'm at work now and super tired. tl;dr interesting art/illustration related things, talk about what interests you to get my dissertation brain seeping. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hermie Posted June 2, 2012 You're fascinated by interactive art, so it's a good start to try to drill down why you're fascinated by it. So, what makes interactive art unique? The first thought I have is the inclusion of an active participant, where the art is first complete once the participant interacts with it. However, isn't this the case with all artwork? Isn't a piece of art incomplete unless someone reads, interprets, analyzes, appreciates it? (In this case, isn't all art interactive to a point?) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Salka Posted June 2, 2012 Well Happy Action Theatre interested me because it gives, erm, kids *shifty eye* environments to play in. When I was little I always wanted to disappear into the illustrations of books, which seems to be what video games are. It's especially obvious with old-style adventure games I guess, which are effectively just interactive storybook illustrations with text etc. So that interests me from the point of view of telling stories to children, but I don't know how much I get out of that for a dissertation. I guess it interests me because you could use a different way of structuring or presenting a story, and people can explore a story in a different way that strays from the linear style of storytelling you see in movies and books etc. I don't know how to get any more out of that for a dissertation though, potentially because I'm so tired that my eyes are red right now Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nappi Posted June 2, 2012 Potentially stupid question but what does your dissertation consist of? Is it a (written) study on certain topic or are you allowed/supposed to create something? I think iPad and iBooks (and equivalent, basically most multimedia devices) have opened up very interesting possibilities when it comes to telling stories in a novel and interactive way. I don't actually know if there are any children's books in iBooks that take advantage of touch interaction, sound/microphone, video/camera, accelerometers, GPS and so on*, but there definitely should be. The possibilities are endless**. * I'm not sure if the iBooks thingy actually lets you use half of these features. If not, one can always create an app. ** They are not. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brkl Posted June 2, 2012 Procedural fairy tales GO. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nachimir Posted June 3, 2012 Some random Sunday morning thoughts: How can we do interactive illustration without it becoming as shit as "multimedia" was? Set next to stories where kids disappear into secret worlds in books, paintings, mirrors, etc., I think there's an intersting link with this. Matt Jones talks about it with regard to cities and practical ends, but what about escapism? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
