Embodying culture: Interactive installation on women’s rights

Abstract

The paper describes an interactive installation exploring perspectives on women’s rights, triggering visitors’ personal reflections through an immersive experience. Starting from the life histories of the women depicted in three paintings from fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth century, we explored three themes: emancipation, self-determination and violence. In the installation, representations of these three paintings were fragmented into panels, floating in the space suspended from a self-standing structure. On these elements, both the original painting and a writhing of visual material were dynamically displayed using a projector. The presence and movement of visitors in the room was tracked by means of a Kinect™ camera and influenced both the position and movements of the panels. A software crawler monitored discussions and debates on social networks. The intensity of these discussions was reflected in the movements of the panels and the content of the projections. The purpose of this interactive installation is to engage visitors in composing a harmonious picture of the complex domain of women’s rights. The experiential form confronts visitors with the opinions of other people debating the theme worldwide. The installation was the outcome of a craft-inspired learning module, grounded on constructivism and reflective practice.