Abstract

Kandinsky questioned presence of interaction between work of art and the viewer already in the beginning of the twentieth century. Therefore, he analyses the point and the line and their relation with the plane. The goal of Kandinsky’s theory was “to find the living [and] to make its pulsation perceptible”. He tries to engage the sight, emotion and mind of the public. Kandinsky explores possibilities of creating a dialog between the viewer and the artwork by using the point, the line and the plane.

Arjen Mulder writes that Kandinsky figured out how the line operates in the two dimensional force field and interactive art continues its research. Moreover, Arjen Mulder elaborates that Kandinsky provided us a model for media art. Therefore the question arises:

how can today’s media art be seen in the light of Kandinsky’s theory of interactivity?.

To answer this question it was important to describe the concept of interactivity and see how it was corresponding with Kandinsky’s attempt “to find a living [and] make its pulsation perceptible”. Moreover, to see how media art can be seen in the light of Kandinsky’s theory of the point, the line and the plane it was important to describe the fundamental points of his ideas. Finally, in the book Point and Line to Plane Kandinsky gives examples of the point and the line in other forms of art than the painting. In this thesis, these examples were compared with today’s media art projects that explore the same forms of art.

The results of research led to these conclusions: firstly, creating an interactive art work means making perceptual signs that allows a range of responses. Perceptual signs let to interpret meaning, to generate attention, and to begin investigation of the world. When the mind is triggered by an interactive work and it becomes active, communication turns into interaction. Secondly, visual perception plays an important role in finding and understanding “perceptual signs”. Susanne K. Langer explains that vision is dynamic and therefore we see movement that follows through design. Finally, the comparison between Kandinsky’s examples and media art project.