Matthew Battles, metaLAB at Harvard;
Jeffrey Schnapp, metaLAB at Harvard
Jessica Yurkofsky, metaLAB at Harvard
Krystelle Denis, metaLAB at Harvard

Denver 2015: Visual and Sensory Approaches

To explore art's imbrication with digital technology in contemporary museum practice, metaLAB designed and developed a participatory media installation in the Harvard Art Museum. The installation, called Lightbox, contrasts differing meanings of words like object, image, and data in information science and curatorial practice, offering visitors a means for exploring the interplay of technical and aesthetic systems. This Making and Doing presentation combines participatory demonstration of the Lightbox installation with reflection on the social and cultural domains in which art objects, information systems, and metadata are interdependently and ineluctably grounded. We especially seek input from science-studies scholars to help us refine the ways interactive media can help us explore disciplinary and practical boundaries in technoscience and the humanities.