Evaluating Intimacy And Ludic Engagement With A Musical Interactive Art Installation That Explores Remote Abstract Communication

The main contribution of the paper is a usability evaluation of an interactive art installation where several different factors for ludic and intimate engagement in this specific context of remote face-to-face non-verbal communication are compared. Experiments are carried out with the following different overall goals: (1) to understand the importance of direct eye contact, (2) to understand the influence of using different musical outputs and (3) to understand whether providing participants with more detailed control supports exploration. Results indicate that direct eye contact enhances the intimate connection, that opera sounds are more effective than synthetic sounds in terms of intimacy, control, musical expressivity and exploration, and that participants engaged in more exploration with limited control.