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Picnic on the screen

This work combines Gould's current research into interactive ludic interfaces with the work of Paul Sermon (University of Brighton) around telepresent environments. The project formed part of the BBC Big Screens (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bigscreens) research project for the Cultural Olympiad, in which 22 screens were erected around the country to facilitate public engagement. Gould was invited to explore the potential for large urban screens to display interactive works that engage audiences, and developed a site-specific installation for the ‘Village Screen’ at Glastonbury 2009.

Gould' work contributes to an emerging body of knowledge around ludic interfaces, a field that aims to counterbalance the "infantilization of play" (Gunalan, 2008) and its historical association with children and non-serious activities. Ludic interface research explores the role of play and fun within 'serious' creative, scientific and technological investigations. Gould’s research investigates how digital media can promote sociability through play, creating within the urban environment opportunities for communities to engage, interact and connect in alternative ways.

'Picnic in the Park' explores how interactive artwork and large format public video screens can optimise agency by offering an interface to which the audience can make an active contribution. The interactions are filmed from the screen and the audience response is recorded with interviews as further evidence. As part of the research methodology, Gould has developed a framework to map the openness and closedness of interactive works building on Scheuerl’s criteria for games (1965, p.607).

Sennett (1986) identifies ritual and play as essential in the formation of public culture, arguing that as sociability is neither predefined nor natural, it is therefore important to offer a framework that promotes it (p.29). Gould's open-ended, interactive Glastonbury installation acts as dramaturgy, providing situational context around which the audience co-creates an improvised narrative performance and engages through play (http://creativetechnology.salford.ac.uk/paulsermon/picnic/).