After reading “Principles of New Media” by Lev Manovich, the part that really stuck out to me in the reading was on page 49 where he writes:

“New Media is interactive… In the process of interaction the user can choose which elements to display or which paths to follow, thus generating a unique work. In this way the user becomes the co-author of the work.”

This part was interesting to me because New Media Art gives a stronger connection between the artist and the audience since art is available to everyone in their own manner. The first thing that came to my mind when I thought of interactable art was ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) like the “Don’t Feed the Muse” arg or the “Welcome Home” arg. ARGs allow users can interact with a variety of elements created by the artists such as websites, videos, or images, (“choose which elements to display”) and piece together the story (“which paths to follow”). It’s kind of like the user gets to become a character in the story. I used to be quite interested in them since it allows the user to interact with different forms of media and make their own theories and conclusions. There was the fun of interaction and the mystery behind the story. In addition, there are soooo many different ways the audience can interact with art pieces like this such as through the comments, finding passwords to hidden sections of the sites, etc. I feel like interactive art not only allows the audience to connect with the artist but with other members of the audience as well. People who have the same interest in the piece may come together to work as teams or just provide their own input on something. Overall, its one big collaborative experience. As things grow and change on the internet, I feel like there will definitely be more variety when it comes to New Media Art and the interactions between the art, the artist, and the users of the internet.