I had high hopes for this article. The lead paragraphs, about a novel being written in real-time by a software program using input from passersby with cellular phones, sounded intriguing. The editor’s introduction also made me hopeful. “We barely notice the scores of video cameras capturing our movements as we go about our business in the city,” says Dorée Duncan Seligmann. “But what if every public space and surface were transformed into an interactive experience...? Bus stops could come alive and talk back, advertisements could look back at you and talk to you, and public park robotic devices could play games with you.”

Braun goes on to describe an outdoor, interactive art festival held last April throughout Paris. She talks about Damaris Risch’s animated self-portrait that reacts to its viewers; Florent Aziosmanoff’s Chaperon rouge [Little red riding hood] that reenacts the story using three Sony Aibos; and Michaël Cros’ Les mains [The hands] tabletop onto which pictures of hands were projected--the pictorial hands changed when people held their real hands over the table. I really, really wanted to go see all of these things.

In contrast to the interactive and universal nature of the art festival the author describes, the article is written in a highly intellectual, academic style, normally seen in monographs, catalogs, and captions on museum and art gallery walls, including the antecedents of these particular approaches to art, the novel techniques, the place in art history of these particular works, and so on. While this was slightly disappointing, the article does contain links, photos, and at least a taste of what was possible in Paris last April.