How nursing home residents respond to the interactive art installation ‘Morgendauw’: a pilot study

Tom Luyten, Susy Braun, S.A.H. van Hooren, Luc de Witte

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This paper reports the responses of nursing home residents who live in a psychogeriatric ward to the abstract interactive art installation ‘Morgendauw’, which was specifically designed for this study. All stakeholders were involved in designing and implementing Morgendauw. The artwork seems able to evoke responses in both the residents and their caregivers, but the amount and duration of the responses observed during the study were limited. 15 interactions over the course of 14 h were noted and almost all of them were initiated by the nursing home staff, physiotherapy students or visitors (n = 12). Interactions lasted for about 3 min on average. Although the nursing home residents initially did not seem to notice the artwork, the threshold of acknowledging and approaching the artwork was quickly overcome when staff nudged or directed the residents’ attention towards the artwork. Beyond this point, nursing home residents generally needed little explanation of the interface to interact with the artwork. The location in which Morgendauw was placed during the study or the characteristics of the installation seemed to create a threshold. Further research should focus on the importance and the effects of context when designing and implementing an interactive art installation in a nursing home environment.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)161-177
Number of pages17
JournalDesign for Health
Volume4
Issue number2
Early online date5 Aug 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

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