Creating and Measuring Immersion in Open Public Spaces with Ariadne’s Fibres

Immersive experiences and art installations are becoming ever more popular. While they are usually developed using specialized technology (such as head-mounted displays) or dedicated, fully controlled environments (often black rooms with video projections on the walls and floor), the implementation of immersive installations in open, public spaces (such as city squares or shopping malls) remains a particularly challenging and interesting task: How to deal with unfavorable conditions on site (noise, stray light etc.) and how to effectively engage passers-by? In this paper, we present the generative evolutive interactive installation Ariadne’s Fibres, located in one of the busiest shopping malls in Paris, France. With advanced tracking of passers-by, it provides a unique experimental platform for field research on what may catch attention and trigger immersion. In this context, Ariadne’s Fibres is part of an ongoing study investigating, through trajectory analysis and questionnaires, the key parameters for immersion in open, public spaces.