As my fingers slid over the rubberized computer mouse anatomically shaped like a vagina, a disquieting thought crossed my mind: did I accidentally walk into a David Cronenberg film?
No.
I was at The Intersection of Art and Technology (tiat) for the opening of their latest exhibit, Every Thing Computer, which explores a uniquely artistic angle for human interface concepts.
This is a wild exhibit. Other highlights include:
- Computers that sing in harmony (see video)
- An interface shaped like a coyote’s paw
- A giant escape key that emits an audible “ow” when you hit it
- An AI-based newspaper that writes itself based on phone calls
- A reimagined early 90s Macintosh Classic with a glass window and separate tough screen
…and the list goes on.
The weirdest one, in my opinion, was impossible to take a compelling photo of as it was a small plastic box filled with dirt. Yes, a dirt-based interface. Why not?
I think there have really only been three innovations to home computer interfaces in my life that have withstood the test of time: the mouse/touch pad, the game controller, and the touch screen. Everything else is either a variant of the above, or never gained mass adoption. Yes, I know the Wii Remote could probably go on that list but it’s a narrow use case, and yes, voice interfaces potentially belong on that list but they’re still too inaccurate and cumbersome to use regularly.
Chat-based AI could sort of count as a new human interface if you squint at it; but it still requires some other medium like a keyboard or voice control to actually interact with at a physical level.
Most other ideas have come and gone, like the J-key mouse, or were never released at all, like Atari’s crazy Mindlink device.
What makes a successful controller is something I’ve put a lot of thought into over the years, even iterating on some prototypes for a controller aimed to be used while lucid dreaming. There are far more unrealized or unimagined possibilities than those that have been tried.
In a nutshell, that’s what I enjoyed about this exhibit — the creative freedom that comes with the art world means that the technology doesn’t have to actually “work” in order for it to be amusing, or possibly even inspiring to the audience.
Note: To avoid getting erroneously blacklisted as a porn site by Google, etc., I’m not including photos of the vaginal mouse.
