“New Interactions: Communities and Information” by Gwilt, Rackham, Vanouse, Edmonds and Selker

In coining the phrase “relational aesthetics,” the contemporary French art theorist and curator Nicolas Bourriaud attempted to define a trend in creative works that configures interactive scenarios in which everyday experiences are the catalyst for audience-driven participation. This panel explores how the tacit activities of urban living are being used to form the foundations for new types of interaction that exploit community life and information-rich environ­ments. Topics include how “relational interaction” can be facilitated by the potential of new-media technologies to simultaneously create multi-layered datascapes and intimate, culturally specific participa­tory situations.