Astra: explorando a autoexpressão do designer em arte digital interativa

Abstract

Since the 1970s, art and computational technologies have increasingly converged, leading to the emergence of new forms of artistic expression. From this hybridization, Interactive Digital Art arises, utilizing digital interfaces to explore the interaction between the audience and the artwork. Semiotic Engineering, a theory of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), studies the communication process between designers and users, aiming to improve communicability in interactive systems. Although art and HCI have different objectives, they share important similarities regarding the understanding of experience and user engagement. This work describes the development of Astra, an interactive digital artwork resulting from the symbiosis of knowledge and practices from both fields, focusing on the designer’s self-expression. Self-expression is linked to the individual’s personality and is essential in the communication process. Narratively, Astra employs the autofiction genre, exploring the identity and relationship between Author, Narrator, and Character. Throughout its conception, stages of illustration, writing, and implementation were carried out, in addition to testing with users who also act as spectators. As a result, an interactive artwork was created, framed by the digital interface, which has proven capable of communicating assertively, although it still presents ruptures in communicability, both in the messages projected by the artist-designer and in the traits of their self-expression.