Art Critique by Other Means

HCI projects bringing digital and interactive technologies into art museums are affected by a conception of the relation between art and design that narrows the available design space. This is often done by positioning such technologies either as presenting information about artworks, as artworks themselves, or by taking a 'hands-off' approach. Aiming to re-investigate this conceptual space, we draw on an enactive approach to art developed by Alva Noë and, by means of a design example (an installation in the MUNCH museum), discuss how this approach redirected the design process. Specifically, how it affected the way the design team related to the original artworks and their history, and how they approached evaluating their work. We show by example how understanding such technologies in terms of how they educate visitors' attention, similarly to art critique, allows designers to participate in correspondence with artworks using unique material, aesthetic, and embodied means.