Aesthetic of Participative Experiences: Two Case Studies on Making Interactive Designs Appealing in Museums

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The participative experience is the open dialogue that happens in the communication within the design piece, the visitors (not necessarily present at the same time in the exhibition space) and the whole exhibition. The experience of being in the exhibition is enriched by the experience of interacting with these design pieces and vice versa. This is why this paper analyses two inter-active designs in the context of museums. These pieces motivate active participation of the visitors, staff members and artists. They are contributing by making content and giving meaning to the whole exhibition. The two case studies are Keskustelukartta (Conversational Map) an installation in Taidehalli, Helsinki during the Young Biennale Exhibtion: Small Heaven and Äänijälki (Sound Traces) an interactive audio guide in Ateneum Museum, Helsinki. These interactive designs intend to generate an aesthetic experience in-cluding participation in a designed way. The visitors’ intellectual involvement takes the shape of valuable comments that are later on attractive for future visitors. The visitor renews his interest via the aesthetic materials that the design piece has gathered. What makes these interactive designs aesthetically appealing? Interactive designs need to be understood, inspire interpretations, improvisation and synthesis; offer a reasonable challenge and surprise; and a worthy way to participate of the exhibition. The participative experience is determined not only by its aesthetic qualities but also by the situation of use. This situation is framed in reference to time, context and shared experience.

Stream: Visitors

Paper: , Aesthetic of Participative Design Pieces, The

M.A Mariana Salgado (Research Assistant)
Mariana Salgado is a doctoral student at the Media Lab, University of Art and Design Helsinki. She has a Master Degree on Product and Strategic Design from the same university. Her bachelor degree as Industrial Designer is from University of Buenos Aires.
She has been working in projects in museums where there is active participation of visitors. Her current interests are in user-centred methodologies and design for all solutions in the museum context. The working title of her doctoral research is “Interactive Platforms for Starting Dialogues in Exhibitions”
She has been working in Media Lab for 4 years, collaborating in the following projects: 4G Design, Digital Facsimile of the Map of Mexico 1550, Äänijälki (Sound Traces), ImaNote and Keskustelukartta (Conversational Map).