Designing interfaces to promote the meaningfulness of urban data through an interactive art installation

This paper describes an interactive art installation, placed at a central location in Athens, that utilises live data from environmental sensors and maps them to visual, auditory, and tactile / kinaesthetic elements. The installation in question is multisensory in nature, since it employs ubiquitous computing technologies, various sensors, virtual reality (VR) interfaces, multi-channel audio displays and interactive light structures. Furthermore, a web app can be used as an additional data source, since users can provide a subjective evaluation of their emotional response towards stimuli originating from the city. The emphasis of this paper is on the role of the installation as an interface between the public and the city itself; thus, the interactive components of the installation are described in more detail.