by genovefa.zourkou -

2.2. Returning to where I began

Reframing My Focus: Designing Phygital Interactions for Cultural Spaces

In my first post, I shared the process behind three pencil holder prototypes I designed. While that exercise helped me develop hands-on design skills, I’ve realized that the topic didn’t truly excite me. What does drive my curiosity is how phygital interactions, those that blend the physical and digital, can reshape the way we experience museums and cultural spaces.

Last semester, I began exploring this direction and outlined some guiding categories for my research:

  • Define the audience
  • Select an area of content interest
  • Explore physical + tangible interactions in depth

While these categories helped structure my thinking early on, I now find the idea of defining a target audience too limiting, especially for museum contexts, where visitors come from a wide range of backgrounds and ages. So, I’ve decided to narrow my focus to content, interaction methods, technology, and prototyping.

My New Direction

For this course, my goal is to develop a physical prototype that investigates how phygital approaches can make themes like history and cultural heritage more engaging, playful, and emotionally resonant. I’m especially interested in designing interactions that draw in people who might not typically connect with traditional exhibits.

To inform my design process, I’ve been researching successful case studies of museum installations focusing particularly on phygital projects. Each of these case studies provides valuable insights into how various interaction modes influence the visitor experience.

Phygital Experiences related to history and cultural heritage

“Longbow & Quarterstaff” (Tangible Interaction)

The Longbow & Quarterstaff [1],[2] experience is a phygital, motion-tracked exhibit that blends physical play with digital storytelling to bring Nottingham Castle’s Robin Hood legends to life. It’s a full-body interactive game where visitors use real medieval-style weapons, safely reimagined, to trigger digital reactions on-screen, learning skills and stories as they go.

Key Characteristics

  • Visitors physically draw a longbow or wield a quarterstaff, mimicking medieval training exercises.
  • Responds in real time. Sensors track movement and trigger animated, story-driven challenges like dueling Little John or mastering archery.
  • Teaches by doing. Combines fun with history. No reading panels, just action-based learning.
  • Inclusive and intuitive. Designed for all ages and abilities, no prior gaming experience needed.
  • Blends heritage and innovation. Reframes historical content through immersive, hands-on play.
  • Keeps visitors engaged longer, encouraging exploration and return visits.
  • Makes memories. Creates moments of laughter, achievement, and embodied storytelling.
  • Durable hardware and responsive tech withstand high traffic without compromising experience quality.
“Sen” (Virtural Reality)

Sen [3], [4] is an immersive virtual reality experience that reimagines the Japanese tea ceremony through the perspective of a tea spirit. Created by Japanese VR artist Keisuke Itoh and produced by Cinemaleap, the 15-minute experience invites participants to embody “Sen,” a tiny lifeform born from within a handcrafted Raku tea bowl. As the spirit, the viewer observes and drifts through a poetic world, experiencing cycles of life, death, and rebirth—symbolizing the transience of existence and the meditative essence of Chado (the Way of Tea).

Key characteristics:

  • Meditative tone inspired by the Japanese tea ceremony and Zen philosophy
  • Non-verbal storytelling that emphasizes emotion, atmosphere, and symbolism
  • Themes of reincarnation, impermanence, and spiritual connection to nature
  • Handcrafted visual style, blending traditional Japanese aesthetics with digital craftsmanship
  • Technology: High-resolution Virtual Reality using a VR headset and spatial audio for full sensory immersion
  • Viewers hold a physical replica of the tea bowl while in VR, which becomes the central object in the experience triggering Sen’s journey and deepening tactile connection without buttons or controllers
A Forest Where Gods Live (Projection Mapping)

teamLab’s A Forest Where Gods Live [5] is an immersive digital art exhibition set in Mifuneyama Rakuen, an ancient Japanese forest and garden with deep spiritual significance. The project blends interactive technology with cultural heritage and nature, creating a respectful dialogue between the past and the present.

Key Characteristics

  • Digital artworks are projected onto real trees, rocks, and ruins, transforming the natural environment without altering it. The forest becomes the canvas.
  • The experience changes based on where you walk, how you move, and even the time of day. Flowers bloom, animals appear, and lights shift in real time.
  • The project honors Shinto beliefs that spirits inhabit nature. Instead of overwhelming the site, the art quietly coexists with its sacred atmosphere.
  • The visuals evolve with weather, seasons, and time, offering a different experience with every visit, echoing the Japanese idea of impermanence (wabi-sabi).
  • Carefully placed soundscapes and ambient lighting deepen the sense of wonder and connection with the natural surroundings.
“Experience Guide” (Environmental Sensing + Feedback)

The Experience Guide [6] is a fully integrated digital system designed to enhance both visitor engagement and museum operations. It’s a smart platform that uses indoor positioning technology to deliver personalized, real-time content to visitors’ smartphones as they move through a museum. It also helps museum staff manage and analyze visitor behavior and exhibit conditions from a single system.

Key Characteristics

  • Acts like a smart, invisible guide. Delivers personalized, location-based audio-visual content to visitors’ smartphones.
  • Automatically plays relevant audio and visual content based on where you are in the museum.
  • Replaces the need for QR codes, physical guides, or borrowed devices.
  • Includes features like ticketing, real-time updates, and accessibility support.
  • Continues the experience post-visit with summaries or reports.
  • Centralizes data on visitor flow, exhibit usage, and system performance.
  • Integrates with CRM, ticketing, and content management.
  • Supports staff in planning, maintaining, and improving the visitor journey.
“Botanical Atlas” (Digital)

The Botanic Atlas [7] is an interactive online platform developed by Google Arts & Culture in collaboration with institutions like the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, CRIA in Brazil, and the University Herbarium of Cambridge. It showcases over 30,000 plant species through a dynamic world map powered by Google AI, allowing users to explore botanical specimens from various regions.

Key Characteristics

  • Purely Digital Platform: Accessible online via Google Arts & Culture, with no physical component—fully immersive and interactive.
  • Uses Google AI to showcase over 30,000 plant species from around the world on a dynamic map.
  • Combines scientific research (botanical specimens, taxonomy) with cultural heritage (historical and artistic stories).
  • Users can select different perspectives like Woodland Explorer, Botanical Scientist, Forest Activist, or Tree Historian to customize their experience.
  • Highlights the cultural significance of plants, botanical art history, and regional forest stories.
  • Designed to educate a global audience through immersive storytelling, interactive exploration, and rich multimedia content.
  • Covers diverse ecosystems and plants from many countries, emphasizing the global importance of botanical knowledge.

Common Aspects of Interaction Methods and Technology

  • Emotion-driven storytelling: Focus on playful, memorable learning rather than info delivery.
  • Seamless physical-digital integration: Tangible actions directly trigger digital responses.
  • Real-time responsiveness: Sensors and tracking enable immediate, dynamic feedback.
  • Multisensory engagement: Combines touch, visuals, and sound for immersive experiences.
  • Context-aware design: Respects and enhances cultural and physical settings.
  • Inclusive and intuitive: Easy to use for all ages and abilities, minimizing barriers.
  • Personalized content: Adapts to visitor location, interests, or pace via smart tech.
  • Robust technology: Durable hardware/software for consistent, high-quality use.

What’s Next

This framework can help guide me in developing my prototype by emphasizing the following key areas:

  • Creating physical touchpoints that trigger rich digital responses.
  • Ensuring interactions feel natural and immediate.
  • Designing for diverse visitors with simple, engaging interfaces.
  • Embedding experiences meaningfully within a cultural context

The upcoming blog post will focus on selecting a topic related to history and cultural heritage, as well as researching technology and making choices for my prototype.

Sources

[1] PRELOADED, “Longbow & Quarterstaff – Nottingham Castle,” PRELOADED, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://preloaded.com/work/longbow-quarterstaff/

[2] K. A. Oliver, “Nottingham Castle,” kaioliver.co.uk, Portfolio. [Online]. Available: https://kaioliver.co.uk/?portfolio=nottingham-castle.

[3] ArtScience Museum, “SEN,” Marina Bay Sands, ArtScience Museum Exhibitions. [Online]. Available: https://www.marinabaysands.com/museum/exhibitions/sen.html.

[4] MuseumNext, “SEN: A transcendent virtual tea ceremony exploring reincarnation,” MuseumNext. [Online]. Available: https://www.museumnext.com/article/sen-a-transcendent-virtual-tea-ceremony-exploring-reincarnation/.

[5] teamLab, “teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live,” teamLab Exhibitions. [Online]. Available: https://www.teamlab.art/e/mifuneyamarakuen/.

[6] Dotdotdot_it, “The first fully integrated digital system customised to visitor and museum needs,” Medium, Oct. 27, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://dotdotdot-it.medium.com/the-first-fully-integrated-digital-system-customised-to-visitor-and-museum-needs-a2661079dfce

[7] Google Arts & Culture, “Botanic Atlas,” 2025. [Online]. Available: https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/botanic-atlas/xwFwFQ2goojMUw.

by Selina Allerstorfer -

#08 Interactive Installations

There are various approaches that interaction designers can take to help combat loneliness. It is not only important to tackle loneliness itself, but also to focus on strengthen interpersonal connections and relationships. Since a large part of our lives already takes place online and we spend a lot of time in front of our phones, I would like to pursue an approach that focuses more on the real and analog world – but still does not forego a digital aspect. 

I would like to investigate whether and how interactive installations can contribute to strengthening social interactions in public spaces. Interactive installations have established themselves as an increasingly important medium for combining technology, art and user experience. 1 Such installations not only fascinate but also create a unique experience through active participation and interaction. As noted by Edmonds “interactive art is distinguished by its dynamic behaviour in response to external stimuli, such as people moving and speaking.” Art becomes interactive when audience participation plays a central role in the work. The audience’s actions can influence and alter the artwork itself. When creating interactive art, the artist focuses not only on the visual or auditory aspects of the piece but also on how it engages and interacts with the audience, making this interaction a vital part of its nature. 2 For example, an installation could:

  • Alter the lights, sounds, or visual aspects in response to the people’s presence.
  • Support teamwork, where several users would have to physically and digitally interact with each other in order to activate particular features.
  • Change and improve according to the behavior of a whole audience, which may cause a dynamic and unpredictable outcome.

How interactive installations work

Interactive installations work through input from the audience or the environment. Interaction is achieved through a combination of sensors, software, physical elements or hardware that recognizes and processes the input. These inputs can include:

  • Movement: Motion sensors and cameras record audience movements, triggering the pre-set reactions. 
  • Touch: Pressure-sensitive surface or touchscreens allow for interaction through touch. 
  • Sound: Microphones record and / or respond to volume, pitch, or specific voice commands. 
  • Proximity: Ultrasonic or infrared detectors observe the proximity of a viewer to the installation. 
  • Input Data: Several installations incorporate data from external sources, such as weather, social network trends, or live web feeds. 4

The system takes these inputs and turns them into responses like changes in lights, visuals, sounds, or even mechanical movements. This creates a dynamic, interactive experience where the audience’s actions directly influence how they engage with the piece.

Source: https://medium.com/@steven_tbd/what-is-an-interactive-installation-6e19c98c881

Types of Immersive and Interactive Art Installations

Digital Projections
The projection of digital content is the cornerstone of immersive and interactive art. Advanced projection mapping can transform walls, floors and ceilings into interactive screens and environments and therefore bring the surrounding to life. By incorporating motion graphics and real-time visuals, these installations create multi-sensory environments that transport audiences into new and imaginative worlds.

Sensor-based Installations
The nature of sensor-based installations is that they use motion, touch, or sound sensors to react to human interaction in real-time. Thus, visual elements may change with movement, or perhaps a touch may turn on a certain light. These installations can range from pressure pads to some long-distance proximity sensors or maybe even facial recognition, which can cultivate an intimate space that reacts individually to each individual encounter. 

Sound and Lighting Installations 
Combining surround soundscapes with synchronized lighting systems, the sound and light installations attain a stunning effect. Through the interplay of contrasts, rhythms, and spatial audio, these installations evoke emotions and draw audiences into a compelling sensory world.

Virtual Reality Installations
Virtual reality installations bring interactivity to a new level by immersing participants in fully digital 3D environments. With the VR headsets viewers can navigate through this digital environment, interact with virtual object or even become part of the artwork. These experiences connect storytelling with interactivity, aggregating in deeply personalized experiences for the visitors. Those installations can be used for entertainment or even educational purposes – virtual museums or immersive stories that let people experience scenarios firsthand.

Participatory Installations
Participatory installations directly involves the audience in the creation or completion of the artwork, often through simple, intuitive interfaces that ensure broad accessibility. These installations may feature collaborative elements, where multiple participants work together to contribute to a piece. Examples include digital graffiti walls or crowd-sourced sculptures, which challenge traditional ideas of authorship and create a sense of community within the artwork. This type of interactive installation blurs the lines between artist and viewer, encouraging collective creativity. 4 5 Designing an installation that requires collaboration not only encourages interaction between people and the interface, but also the connection between people and their environment – and above all connection between the people themselves. 1

Interactive installations have the potential to ease feelings of loneliness and strengthen social ties by combining art, technology, and user participation. By combining the physical and digital worlds, these experiences offer new approaches to encouraging meaningful interactions and tackling isolation in shared public areas.

Sources

[1] S. U. Ahmed, „Interaction and Interactivity: In the Context of Digital Interactive Art Installation“, in Lecture notes in computer science, 2018, S. 241–257. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-91244-8_20.

[2] E. Edmonds, “Interactive Art,” in Interacting: Art, Research and the Creative Practitioner, L. Candy and E. Edmonds, Eds. Faringdon: Libri Publishing Ltd., 2011, pp. 18–32.

[3] T. Emb, „The Intersection of Art and Technology in Interactive Installations“, EMB Blogs, 16. April 2024. https://blog.emb.global/art-and-technology-in-interactive-installations/#:~:text=Technology%20is%20crucial%20for%20interactive,%2C%20sound%2C%20or%20other%20inputs.

[4] S. Zafeiriou, „The Role of Technology in Interactive Installations: How Sensors, Computers, and More Shape Modern Art |“, Steve Zafeiriou, 11. November 2024. https://stevezafeiriou.com/technology-in-interactive-installations/

[5] Fiveable, “Interactive Installations: Study Guide,” Fiveable, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://library.fiveable.me/installation-art/unit-6/interactive-installations/study-guide/rdqjbQtvUFtb8qto. [Accessed: Jan. 25, 2025].