Scanlines

2016 Sydney, Australia

Collaborator: Chris Hancock, Andrew Yip

Production: Laboratory for Innovation in Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums, UNSW, Sydney

This experimental interactive browser integrates three fields of data exported from the Scanlines website (the themes: People / Artworks / Events). The interactive interface allows users to browse over 2400 separate entries, encompassing over 2100 works of media art and their associated networks.

The work uses the visual metaphor of a ‘helix’ to structure multiple points of connected data, while simultaneously demonstrating each element’s density of related imagery defined by the metadata. This mechanism allows for serendipitous discovery based on aesthetic exploration, and rewarding users who want to discover more complex associations.

Level 1: browsing the helix a user can select the ‘theme’ (people, artworks or events). These elements are arranged from left to right side of the screen in alphabetical order. Users can switch between these themes by using the A button on the controller (‘select theme’) and can rotate the helix using left/right inputs from the controller of the left hand side stick.

Level 2: using the select node feature (push downwards on the left hand side stick of the controller) an individual element within a theme is brought to the foreground and displays associated images.

Level 3: using the select node feature again on any image in Level 2, the user advances to Level 3 which displays related people, artworks and events. At this level the user can navigate left/right (and themes will automatically change) to rotate though the images or via the select node function leading to a new set of connections.