Journey to Abadyl
Michael Johansson, 2017This project is an exploration of a complex digital space, which invites user participation. We provide a detailed and complex, yet open world that can be used to generate scenarios for the temporary co-creators of Abadyl, who then interact in an optimal environment and ultimately produce new artefacts. Abadyl is a database that contains all the gathered information in different file formats, it is a storage facility containing all of the physical artefacts, it is a website used for communication and documentation, and it is a map used for navigating the City.
This combination of interactive situations and artefactual production we called “fieldasy”. We concentrate on the production of new media and artefacts, with the aim of producing artwork that incorporates surprising visual and technical proposals, which are unusual, enriching and engaging. By building prototypes and iterating them over time amongst the co-creators, we can explore this field in a fruitful way, moving between artistic intentions/screen writing, artefacts and digital generated expressions and script/code writing. Here, the virtual object can challenge the ‘physical’ with qualities that are very hard to achieve in the physical world, and through this conflict, new expressions can be developed. Today, hybrid creations have become a method for working with cultural production – not only with different elements of form, but also as a means of blending the identities of the creators. In our prototype work, we focus in particular on interactive installations and stage design; we realize that the digital design process demand new forms of conceptualization and prototyping activities to support the design and expression of the final artwork – and maybe in the long run, will contribute to the development of an updated design theory in this field.