Transformation of the subjective concept of "play" in interactive arts, based on Gadamer's views. (Case Study: The Onde-Pixel Interactive arrangement implemented at UNICREDIT PAVILION, Milan)

Throughout the history of the philosophical life of art, some philosophers have used "play" to explain their philosophical and aesthetic views, but most of these scholars emphasize on the subjective aspects and corresponding subject matters. In the meanwhile, using Heidegger's concepts in the process of understanding, Gadamer attempted to illustrate the role of two-way involvement in the artistic experience, based on the concept of "play" and, cleanse the arena of art of subjective and modern epistemological perspectives at the same time. Considering the Gadamer's hermeneutic approach to audience’s interpretation and understanding of the artwork, several features of “play”, including: substantiveness of the play, seriousness in play, non-separation of subject-object, new creation and events, confinement in the rules of the play and free will at the beginning of the play can be extracted from his aesthetic views. To explain his talk about aesthetic comprehension, Gadamer has used the parable of "play". The aim of mentioning the issue of play in "truth and method" is to become familiar with the existence of objects which show that the dual divisions of subject and object are not enough to understand the world.. In fact, using this concept, Gadamer tries to display it since as the play is not merely a product of the subjectivity (the subjects of the play) of the actors, the hermeneutic understanding and experience is not just a product of human mental activity. As the actor can freely play a role in the play on the one hand, he is not free due to the participation in the play on the other hand. He should play this role within the framework of the rules and content of the play. The artist and the person who understands the work of art are not completely free in the face of hermeneutic experience. They act through the traditional framework which covers them. On the other hand, the play metaphor for Gadamer means the function in the context of the structure. The play is created when it is regular and bilateral or multilateral. In this case, the work of art is not a mere object and the reader is not a mere subject. Meanwhile, new arts, especially interactive art, have added to the flow of objectivity by inviting to enter the work through play and enjoy the experience of the work.
In fact, Gadamer has raised these features in the context of performing arts in order to make the ontological features of the play tangible for audience. The present study is an attempt to investigate the feasibility of expanding the concept of play in interactive arts where the relationship between the audience and artwork has entered a new domain of participation. Drawing on the descriptive-analytical method and the library data collection methods, the present applied study mainly aims to apply the Gadamer's hermeneutic views about "player" on the interactive arts. Therefore, one of the interactive artworks (by Miguel Chvalier) presented at the UNICREDIT PAVILION exhibition in Milan in 2016 was selected as the case study.