Neil Mendoza: Mechanical Masterpieces

I observed the Mechanical Masterpieces exhibit, where physical actuations are realized into digital consequences. Visitors that engaged with the exhibit were generally three to six years old, with parents supporting. Engagement is mostly linear in that each masterpiece usually has one method of actuation associated with it that is cyclical. For example, there was one painting where a visitor can turn a wheel that actuates a linear mechanism, which then causes a digital hand to poke the subject of the digital painting off screen. The rotation – and therefore  poking – is cyclical, and the state of the digital painting is dependent only on the position of the mechanism.

Visitors are engaged by the obviously actionable mechanisms that the exhibit offers. These include: pistons, wheels, switches, and rope. Attention time is limited unless the visitor notices the digital outcomes of their actions. This may not happen if the visitor is standing too close to the mechanism, where vision of the screen is limited or even blocked. I observed this issue being aided by either visitors noticing others engaging with the exhibit before playing with it themselves, or by parents pointing the effects out to the actor. The exhibit mainly brings out the autonomy objective in that a visitor feels that they are able to easily actuate the mechanisms on their own. A secondary object of industry is brought out in a limited way in that they can sometimes observe their physical actions directly affecting a digital world.

The aesthetic of the area was one with limited lighting, where emphasis was put onto the art pieces using directed lights. This is similar to other art museums and gives the space a more authentic feeling. No facilitators were present in the space, as the mechanisms were designed with the intention that visitors could easily reason about the exhibits on their own.