Have a Seat!

Have a Seat! is a playful interactive installation in which a video of a traveler of both time and space urges viewers to sit on a couch.

When three people sit close together on the couch a special broadcast or snippet of The Muppet Show plays. Strangers coming to view the work find themselves uncomfortably close to each other to experience something whimsical, thus breaking down personal barriers between them.

Have a Seat! was created in collaboration with artist Meghan Miller as part of Transmogrification, an experimental art show at Harvester Arts in Wichita, March 2024. The work consists of a working console TV, couch, sensors, microcontroller, and laptop computer with custom software written in C++ in Pure Data. Jered Becker played the part of the traveler in the video.

Similar Posts

  • Touch #2

    Touch #2 is a playful virtual environment and an interactive, musical instrument. Viewers become participants through play. The work transforms any flat wall into a touch-sensitive surface. A projector and infrared camera mount on the ceiling and infrared emitters mount on top of the wall, allowing the work to detect as many as 10 touches…

  • SoundBlocks

    SoundBlocks is a tangible environment where youth connect blocks to describe network dataflow. The environment explores digital sound manipulation as a personal, meaningful and fun artistic endeavor, rather than as a venture into mathematical, electronic or networking relationships.

  • SoundScratch

    SoundScratch is a set of extensions I wrote to manipulate audio in a children’s programming language called Scratch. The environment emphasizes the expressive capabilities of sound through the act of creation and design.

  • Minigolf at Figment in New York

    As a faculty member Wichita State University’s College of Engineering (WSU), I worked with students to create and install a mini-golf hole as part of FIGMENT at Governor’s Island, NY in 2010. I also gave the keynote address that year for FIGMENT’s public art opening. WSU’s mini-golf hole was chosen from a juried selection. Our…

  • Digital Puppetry

    I worked with a team of colleagues, community members, and urban youth. Our intention was to help the youth learn in a playful environment, find personal self-expression, and have their voices heard by communities in Boston. To do this, we adapted commercially available technology to provide a unique medium: digital puppetry.

  • Auralis

    Auralis is a musical instrument constructed from a multitouch table and custom software ported from my earlier touch wall Touch #2. Merging sound, interactivity, and sequencing, Auralis is simultaneously engaging, meditative and soothing. I created the work for youth ages 8-14. A virtual world of suns, stars and planets interact with each other. Participants run…