An audience’s physical intervention is often considered to be instrumental in the field of interactive art. However artworks displayed in public spaces are often invested with diverse purposes, in which many do not directly involve audiences or audience members as key components for realising the intentions of the art. This raises the question of whether direct interaction with audiences is considered to be essential, in particular for those interactive artworks displayed in public venues outside conventional art spaces. This article introduces an important characteristic of interactivity in interactive art, through the largely unexplored concept of ‘Ambient Interaction’ in which artworks come to be embodied by environmental conditions and situational influences rather than exclusively through people’s conscious and direct intervention. In such cases, it is argued, artists would benefit from a broader awareness of not only whom, but what their artworks will encounter and interact with.

• Publisher