ARDUINO, which are changing the way of artists’ invent life

Few years ago, If an artist wanted to add a little interactivity to work for the museum, he had two choices: one is buy a computer and have it reprogrammed to fit the task, the other one is employ a engineer to design a computer chip for the artwork. However, when five person got together and developed a small programmable computer which called Arduino（A small Controller Boards and it has a USB plug which can connect to your computer and other connection sockets such as motors, relays, light sensors, laser diodes, loudspeakers, microphones and so on.）， everything has changed.


Many people have not seen Arduino probably, because it is invisible in the exhibition, so most of them wondering what it looks like, in fact, the Arduino is just a little small thing which has no screen or keyboard and looks like something you find in a secret lab at IBM. But this little small thing has become the most popular trend today. It is a very good experience for people to see a sculpture move autonomously in a museum. The Arduino has changed the way they can create and build exhibits, in the past they would have used 50 percent of their budget on computers that have now been replaced with the simplicity of the Arduino. It’s very convenient.
Yasurs, a good company which sells Arduinos and other interactive components, has a lot of artists buy products from her online store to try and make their artwork come alive. Because Artists want to create works that interact with the viewer, and the Arduino makes it so easy.

The DIY movement has been the driving trend behind this new world of interactive art, that’s why so many articles, forums in the internet to help people learn how to make and use the device free of charge. These online resources have put the Arduino into artists’ hands and have made it a major part of museums all over the world. The two most important introductions for art in the past 20 years have been the Arduino and Processing, which is a free design program that can be used on a traditional computer to interact with an Arduino. Think about that, when every piece in a museum has an Arduino built in that can see how people interact and look at the artwork, we could see a scenario when the curator rearranges an exhibit because a specific painting is being passed over by museum goers.

People were trying to learn how viewers interacted with artwork with the hopes of optimizing their experience. For example, using the Arduino, artists can make images on a screen change based on how close someone is standing to the piece. Artists can then find the optimal distance before making the screen’s image change.

So maybe someday, a museum is completely programmable, where people can actually interact with the entire physical space using touch, movement or their smart phone