There are many different types of interactive artists, but their artworks all have one thing in common: they are audience-focused. A performance artist who becomes the art itself is one example of an interactive artist. Many performance artists would dress up or attach objects to themselves and take to the streets to entice ordinary people to participate. Mimes can be thought of as a type of performer who interacts with people imitating them, annoying them, or making them laugh. Performance artists would be hired some art exhibits to become moving art installations.
Installation artists are another type of interactive artist. These artists usually create structures, installations, or sculptures that elicit an emotional response from the audience. Unlike paintings, which are not meant to be touched, many installation artists encourage viewers to touch their work and even rearrange it if the material allows it. City or state governments will occasionally commission installation artists to create a work for them to erect in a park or as a street landmark.
Street artists are another popular type of interactive artist, with sub-types such as graffiti, pavement, and even garbage artists. Graffiti artists typically use spray paint bottles to draw their work on large areas of walls for all to see, in the hopes of inspiring others to add their own work to the wall. Pavement artists, on the other hand, use chalk and the street as their medium, creating realistic but illogical art through optical illusions. Many pavement artists have created lifelike images of waterfalls, cliffs, and deep abysses on asphalt roads in the hopes of scaring people away from walking on them.
The web artist is one type of interactive artist who uses technology. Many applications require user interaction, such as clicking the mouse, typing a word, or pressing the “enter” key. By setting up touch screens for their audience to tap and run their fingers through, some more tech-savvy web artists become installation artists. Additional sensors can be added to change the displayed artwork when a passeror a specific sound is detected.
Even writers can transform into interactive artists on occasion. There are several published books, particularly in the children’s category, in which authors write different plots and endings, and readers are asked which page they want to turn to below certain pages. In this way, the writer gives the reader control over the outcome of his story, and another reader will get a completely different story out of the same book.