Triggers to entice an audience to ‘perform as interface’ in an interactive installation

The paper investigates how an audience can be challenged to 'perform as interface' pointing towards the activation of a certain attitude; an active mind-set which constantly leads the attention back to the experience of our body; to perceive, critically read and make sense of this experience in relation to the interaction with(in) the technologically mediated world [16]. As a case, the paper focuses on the interactive installation "CHAIR-JUMP-CHUTE" and on the various ways the audience was induced to interact with it. The paper identifies triggers stimulating the participant to become fully - as in physically and mentally - engaged in the interaction with a technological installation in the semi-public setting of a cultural institute. Furthermore, it explores how the perceived thresholds (like other people watching, physical challenges or "apparative resistance" [9], become more than 'elements to overcome' as they can also be seen as giving meaning and depth to the interactive experience. The paper sums up what factors trigger this challenging and at the same time demanding (embodied) interaction, in order for this interaction to become an important actual / critical part of the aesthetic experience of interactive art, as it challenges the participant to perform as interface.