The Viscous Display : a transient interface for collective play in public space

Abstract

The Viscous Display is a tangible, mobile, flexible display device that explores the exchange of social information through transient public interfaces. Shaped by principles of so-called 'underground public art', the Viscous Display is conceived as a novel communication medium, where symbolic graphic messages can be shared in public spaces. Similar to stickers that are left in public spaces and pheromones that are left by ants in colonies, the Viscous Display is designed as a mobile artifact that is meant to enable participants to leave traces of activity by picking them up, interacting with them, and placing them in various locations. As a consequence, digital information/artifacts can also be left around public spaces via the Viscous Display for people to stumble upon. This thesis will describe the approach and process of designing, constructing and testing the Viscous Display project. The Viscous Display aims to create landscapes that are charged with the traces and messages of others that have inhabited that same space. This work contributes to a vision for changing spatial metaphors in public space.