Xu Xu – Looking Outwards – 12

I am using 1 of my grace days for this late submission.

• 

For this looking outwards, I found two interactive art projects that are relevant to the project I have in mind: Hershman Leeson’s Lorna in 1984 and John Lennon’s The Bermuda Tapes in 2015. The first project is the first artwork that used laserdisc technology. Using this medium to explore the possibilities and extent of interactiveness, the artist enables users to explore and intervene in the world of an agoraphobic woman named Lorna. Lorna’s actions can be controlled using a remote control, and three outcomes are possible: Lorna remains trapped by her apartment and her insecurities; she commits suicide; or she shoots the television instead, in a sense ’murdering’ the medium. The second project is an interactive Album App that tells the story of John Lennon’s journey, sailing through a mid-Atlantic storm to Bermuda in June 1980. Through the screen of an iPad or iPhone, you are able to interact with the narrative, moving, swiping and tilting, to give the story a sense of personal touch. 

Both of these projects relate to the final project I have in mind, which is an interactive game composed of choices that eventually leads to an ending. I chose the first project to discuss it because it is one of the earliest works of interactive game/film, with a really similar game structure that makes the players feel relatable (because they are the ones making the choices). The second one is graphically more developed. However, I think it has more room to grow in terms of interactivity. Players can only interact with certain things in the story, but don’t necessarily have the ability to change the story.

LORNA 1984: https://zkm.de/en/artwork/lorna

THE BERMUDA TAPES 2015: https://www.design-io.com/projects/lennonbermudatapes