Interactivos? medialab madrid

Interactivos?aims to transform exhibit space into a place for sharing experiences, acquiring knowledge and discussing ideas. Through exhibits, workshops and presentations, the public can approach new forms of production and the use of electronics and programming for creative and educational purposes.

New communication technologies promise users greater participation and interactivity. However, this supposed interactivity is often limited to simply choosing from several closed options. The development of new information and communication technologies has brought with it new forms of production, organization and knowledge distribution. Open hardware and free software offer users the chance to be producers as well, through collective creation. It is here that the word interactivity takes on its broadest meaning. Beyond the mere choice of one of only a few pre-established options, collective projects with open source hardware and software enable learning and teaching how technology works and above all they allow everyone to be a producer. In this way, it is possible to question the notion of technology as closed and only understandable to a select few.

Interactivos? is a hybrid. It’s a workshop, a seminar and an exhibit. Through the collaborative development of 10 projects of digital art, sound art, critical design and educational applications, our aim is to transform the exhibit space into a place for production, debate and communication, open to the public.

Interactivos?is one of the advanced results of the collaborative dynamics generated and developed by MediaLab Madrid and Banquete, since their inception in 2002. It has aimed to explore and recombine trans-disciplinary, non-linear formats and models for knowledge generation and transfer, based on open innovation processes.

From a systemic perspective, Interactivos? can be considered a property emerging from a complex process of cultural symbiosis that has evolved in MediaLab Madrid, based on the interaction and shared experiences of its components/participants. In addition to specific formal results, as a whole it has enabled the structuring of a community of shared interests that works from the bottom up.

Interactivos? received an Honorary Mention at the Prix Ars Electronica 2010.