Reed pours coffee and explains that the design of a physical space has little to do with the electrical communication channels associated with that space. Wires and computers are hidden, and actual communication is dissociated from physical awareness. Information processes and internal bodily processes remain hidden from view, while still controlling and regulating our perceived environment, he says. Perhaps by revealing these sources of communication, we can help people to better understand and relate to what s happening within their environment. He compares his research to that of students of furniture design, who are asked to build at least one chair during their first year at school.
Events occur in the real world.
The computer recognises these events and triggers resulting actions. A custom-scripting environment allows students to design and build working reactive spaces. Reed acknowledges a current backlash to the screen at computer art school, but he emphasises that everything is real in one way or another. It s not relevant to think in terms of real and virtual. There s nothing imaginary about the screen.