Beatfield: An Open-Meaning Audiovisual Exploration

Abstract

This paper presents Beatfield, a musical installation that allows players to explore an audiovisual landscape by positioning tangible objects on an augmented game board. The underlying idea of the installation was the proposition of an artefact that could encourage heterogeneous interpretations. Beatfield had to offer a multitude of interpretations and ways of appropriating the system; there would be not a right or wrong way to play with it. To this end, the design of the installation integrated related work on open-ended interaction, ambiguity, and appropriation with enigmatic aesthetics, ambiguous interaction strategies, and unpredictable mapping between user input and audiovisual output. The results collected from a user study confirmed the potential of the installation to stimulate a variety of different experiences and interaction strategies.