Brilliant Example Of Digital Merged With Mechanical For Engaging Interactive Work

March 29, 2021 by Dave Haynes

This is brilliant stuff … famous works of art digitized and playfully integrated with old-school mechanical devices to make them interactive.

The exhibit is called Mechanical Masterpieces – a collection of paintings reimagined by artist Neil Mendoza for the 21st century.

Optimized for short attention spans, it allows viewers to poke, switch, disco, inflate and water paintings to their heart’s content. The installation was created for The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

It’s a great lesson for anyone thinking about interactive displays that great, engaging work is not about the sophistication of the technology, it’s about the idea and execution. You could do some interesting things, I suppose, with cameras and sensors, but this simple mechanical thing has no learning curve … and the results are fun!

  1. Beth Warren says:

    Absolutely concur on its brilliance – in particular, the use of analog gears, switches, ropes and hoists that then deliver the digital effects. Spectacular and thank you for sharing with us! BW@creativerealities

  2. Jeremy Gavin says:

    Love this so much. The combination of the physical and digital is what originally brought me into this space. So cool to see someone create something with elegant simplicity. Kudos to Neil Mendoza!

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