Art has always been subject to the interpretation of its audience. On opening night, Tennessee Rice Dixon was still futzing with her Count installation, which was running slower than she wanted. The piece resembles an abstract CD-ROM game, with photos, videos, numbers, and words floating across the screen. Think Myst plus a Peter Gabriel video, with a little Jenny Holzer wordplay thrown in. Dixon never indicates when or how to speak or what your voice will do.
Experimentation is part of the design.
She said she intends the piece to be somewhat slow and deliberate but worries some visitors will move on before getting the whole picture. Ironically, one of the ill-behaving features in Count actually comes across as an artistic merit. Yet, this was one of the things that people liked most. Jones' Culture Versus the Martians CD-ROM requires users to help scroll text as animated boxers and music fight for viewer attention. Artist Tina LaPorta, who has worked with video and Net-based art, says that technical limitations affect her work as much as any creative impulses.