Unveiling Interactive Street Art as Narrative and Playful Elements in the City

UMRAN2015: A VISION OF ESTABLISHING GREEN BUILT ENVIRONMENT, 28th April 2015, IIUM

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UNVEILING INTERACTIVE STREET ART AS

NARRATIVE AND PLAYFUL ELEMENTS IN THE

CITY

Hasyimah Hassan1, Nur Shazmiera Rosmidar Roslan

2 and Khalilah Zakariya*

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ABSTRACT Interactive street art has emerged as a new form of public art that is starting to gain attention in different

cities, including Malaysia. It is not simply just an artwork located along the streets, but it also brings a new

kind of phenomenon to the city’s interactivity and vitality. As it is still considerably new in Malaysia, there

has not been many local studies that examine interactive street art as a creative medium to enhance people’s

experience. Based on case studies in Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Terengganu, this study analyses the

potentials of interactive street art as narratives and playful elements in the city. Data is gathered through

observation, mapping and conducting surveys among visitors that encounter the artwork. From the findings,

this study identified how the artwork convey stories about the city, while also acting as informal playful

elements. The recommendation explores other possibilities of designing interactive street art in the context

of Malaysia.

Keywords: Interactive street art, street art, public art, narratives, playful, people, city

INTRODUCTION

Street art is a branch of public art that appears on the street, such as mural art, chalk art,

graffiti and others that can be found in remote area up to urban public spaces (Riggle,

2010: 244). Street art adds liveliness to the city, where at times, they encourage responses

between people and spaces. Any street art that makes people interact with it can be

considered as interactive street art. In order for a street art to become an interactive one,

there are two essential criteria, which are people and response (Conklin, 2012: 5). Irvine

(2012) mentioned that street art is an important element for a place to function, and it is

purposely organized with their own symbolic values or principles. Many researchers have

studied about street art, but there are not many studies that examine interactive street art.

Thefore, this study explores and investigates people’s perceptions towards interactive

street art, which includes how they value and experience it. The findings is aimed to

identify the suitability of applying interactive street art in the context of Malaysia.

Street art is commonly done by street artists to express feelings or ideas, whether

to increase interactivity of the city or just as a form of expression (Steedman, 2012:1). In

Malaysia, this form of public art has become an emerging trend. However, not many

people are aware of street art and its functions. Inevitably, there are some local authorities

who do not yet support street art as a form of public art, in which it is still viewed as a

form of vandalism. Based on other research, many scholars and artists argue that street art

is not always a form of vandalism because it gives people an outlet for expression that

1 3rd Year Landscape Architecture Student, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, KAED, IIUM. E-mail:

[email protected] 2 3rd Year Landscape Architecture Student, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, KAED, IIUM. E-mail:

[email protected] 3 *Corresponding Author: Asst. Prof., Dept. of Landscape Architecture, KAED, IIUM. E-mail:

[email protected]


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create a productive environment (Fresh Writing – online). While street art can now be

seen in different cities in Malaysia, there is not yet a study that investigates the functional

values of street art. There is a potential for street art to enhance people experience and

interactivity, where people can stop by at a particular area, read the textual artwork, feel

the artwork on the scene, as well as play with it. Street art can also tell a story about the

city. Moreover, there are also some public spaces that are underutilized and less

appreciated. For these spaces, street art may act as a medium to potentially offer

something new in that particular area.

Lefebvre (1987:36 , see Stevens 2007) wrote that a city may not be necessarily

well-planned with adequate facilities for activities or festivals. Sometimes, the unplanned

activities are best to evoke the sense of beloging between people. People just need a

space. The city must be a place for people to engage and interact with one another.

Hence, the roles of interactive street art might be very important in improvising street

spaces to enhance people’s experience, as well as creating a space for community

engagement. As such, understanding and exploring the potential roles of of street art is

vital in making the city livelier towards the users.

INTERACTIVE STREET ART Interactive street art includes all kind of artworks that act as an interactivity interface

between people and space. The word “interactive” represents many different meanings.

“Interactive”, according to online Oxford Dictionary means ‘two people or things are

influencing each other and thus, it allows two way flow of information between them.’

People can control or change the action, in response to their own request or interest. On

the other hand, “street art” is any form of art developed in public spaces, particularly, in

the streets. This includes stencil graffiti, sticker art, flash mob, street installations and

others. They are not limited only in galleries but it is understood by the producers as

artwork, not just for the sake of advertising (Banet-Weiser, 2011:644). Thus, interactive

street art can be perceived as any artwork on the street that allows physical interaction

between the individuals and their surrounding environment.

Typology of Interactive Street Art Interactive street art does not just focus on its aesthetic appeal, but also on the

interactivity, action and reaction of people towards it. In this study, seven types of

interactive street art have been identified, which are 2D mural art, 3D+2D artwork, 3D

illusion, sculpture, technology-based art, kinetic art and street performers. These types

comprise of any form of artworks that can create interaction and gain response from the

users. There are two main categories, which are mobile and immobile street arts. Mobile

street art includes technology-based art, kinetic art and street performers. These artworks

basically require motion by the artwork itself to create interactivity, in which they are

more flexible and agile. Immobile street art does not require motion. Interactivity can

already be created from the stationary state of the artworks. This second category includes

3D+2D artwork (3D installation), 3D illusion, sculpture, and 2D mural art.

Interactive Street Art in the City Zacca (2010:184) stated that “…the urban experience has inspired the creation of

artwork depicting aspects of city life.” As the main focus of this research is to connect

and relate how interactive street art can enhance people experience and network,

interactive street art is viewed as a creative and artistic medium that can portray the

lifestyle in cities in a fun way through the interesting artworks.


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According to Moughtin (2003: 12), the 16th Century theorist and architect John

Shute has correlated the city upon human figures that, “A city ought to be like the human

body and for this reason it should be full of all that gives life to man”. In the same source,

he also claimed that the city is not merely an element of the people’s spiritual and

physical culture, but it is the greatest expressions of that culture. Moreover, Maslow

(1943, see Stevens, 2007) emphasized that towards the functionality of a city, people

come to the city not just because they want to meet their basic physiological needs, but

also to search for love, esteem and self-actualization, and to experience the diversity of

the world around them as well as to learn and to understand it. Moreover, Montgomery (1995, see Shamsuddin, 2011) has claimed that the city

is a sense stimulator whereby the street life should always be remembered by people,

creating a sense of place simultaneously. The successful city therefore must be a

responsive environment that has a high degree of visibility that brings a steady flow of

people with different age and various types of activities. The city also gives information

as people in the society seek motivation and generates the message from the street artist

through their participation in public street life or public spaces. According to Irvine

(2012: 20), the city for street artists is not merely to transmit information but its density

itself which is the street, alleys, as well as the built environment are also information.

This is in line with what has been emphasized by Francis (1987), “..with much of the

public life of cities still taking place on streets, they will continue to be places where

public culture is developed and nurtured,” so that the city dwellers can easily understand

and learn about street life which lead to the enlightenment of a city story. Playfulness on

the other hand, will also be created through the enjoyment of downtown and

neighbourhood street with great accessibility.

Interactive Street Art as a Medium of Narrative and Playfulness Kendall (2011) suggested that street art is a “window into a city’s soul.” There is always

a mean in order to explore and discover the beauty of a city. The elements in the story of

the city are composed of culture, history, heritage and lifestyle and trend. Narrative street

art has the mechanism and ability to display stories, contributing to the lively image of the

city. It is the matter of how creative and intelligent the city can get in capturing our

attention and telling a story.

There are four basic forms of playful activity, as mentioned by Caillois (1961, see

Stevens, 2007), which are competition, chance, simulating and vertigo. These forms of

playfulness gives useful insight into the characteristics of play. This includes the set of

rules and roles assumed by various participants. Each of the forms of activity also

illustrates something about what makes play enjoyable, and hence why people might

choose to play. Urban setting frame particular kinds of opportunities for each form of

play. Urban public space brings together the diversity of social life and social values, and

thus public play in the city usually combines several forms (Stevens, 2007: 36-37).

Interactive Street Art in Enhancing Values of City Ford (2000:210) highlighted that most of the time, people tend to ignore and forget the

character of a place. However, a good sense of place will give a unique emotional

character of a place. Thus, for a good place to be revealed, it should provide memorable

sensory by stimulating visual, auditory and olfactory senses, which leads to the

enhancement of the city values that comprise of aesthetic, social, cultural and

commercial.

Based on the Oxford Dictionary (online), aesthetic is something concerned with

beauty or the appreciation of it where “...visual preference based on visual sensation


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which is the most important aspect of aesthetic quality...” Ramlan (2014:18). Art is

usually directly related to beauty and thus, interactive street art will assist a city in

beautifying its physical form from the street itself, other than the buildings and

skycrapers. According to Lynch (1960:9), a mental image is created when a particular

object evokes a strong impact in the mind of the observer. Thus, the physical qualities of

an interactive street art with vivid colour, shape and texture can summed up as the criteria

that can conjure imageability in the sense of aesthetic value.

The involvement of people enriches the social and cultural values of a city. It

cultivates the daily lifestyle and people interaction to portray the richness of Malaysian

culture and tradition in preserving the heritage of the city and country as a whole.

Therefore, it gives a sense that a city which is opulent in culture will have a high cultural

value. The moral values of the people shape a good social value of city. Wodsak et. al

(2008:11) believed that the quality of life can be improved when there is a mutual

commitment of art and culture. Once the power of the community is activated, the social

value becomes better.

The commercial value is the economic significance which the city can get with the

presence of interactive street art thus acting as a mean to attract more people (local and

foreign) to promote the story of Malaysian cities. Indirectly, tourism sector of Malaysia in

total will be blossomed and is able to generate new source of income of the nation.

METHODOLOGY This section explains about the case study sites and the techniques of data collection

during the study. The case study areas are selected to compare and contrast the findings

mainly through observation, site mapping and survey questionnaire.

1. Case Study: Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Terengganu Based on the availability of the interactive street art, the case study areas are categorized

into two cities, which are Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Terengganu. As shown in Figure 1,

three locations in Kuala Lumpur are selected to conduct the data collection and analysis,

which are (a) Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, (b) Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman 4, and (c)

LRT Masjid Jamek. In Kuala Terengganu (refer to Fig. 2), three back lanes are selected,

namely (d) Turtle Alley, (e) Payang Memory Lane and (f) Tauke Weng Seng Hee

Cultural Lane. The digitized maps in both figures were reproduced from Google Earth

software.

Figure 1 Case study sites in Kuala Lumpur

a b c


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Figure 2 Case study sites in Kuala Terengganu

2. Data Collection The data collection aspects include the typology of the artwork, functions and users’

experience towards the interactive street art at the case study areas. The data is collected

through methods of observation (qualitative data) and survey questionnaires (quantitative

data). Mapping of site and people activities were conducted to document the physical

characteristics and locations of the artwork. In general, qualitative data includes the

physical characteristics of the interactive street art, while quantitative data measure the

respond from the city dwellers and visitors in terms their perception and experience.

Observation and Mapping

According to Rose and Grosvenor (2009: 9), a ‘real life’ picture can be created through

a close contact with the subject, events or people’s behaviour that are being observed by

the researcher. The categories that have been applied are complete-participant by direct

observation via site mapping and taking photographs, where the status of the researcher is

unknown. At the same time, the researchers also act as the observer-as-participant, where

the observer is a part of the study group that share the same experience. Basically, the

observation process is done in three stages: (i) preparation for observation that includes

some tools like digital camera, sketch book and recorder; (ii) carrying out the systematic

observation on the sites based on the checklist prepared; and (iii) managing and analyzing

the data collected in tables or figures.

Survey Questionnaire

According to Brace (2013: 4), a questionnaire is an instrument of quantitative method

that can be described as a mean of communication between two people, even though they

never communicate directly between one another. The purpose of conducting this

questionnaire is to get the feedback from different users regarding their profiles, level of

awareness, perceptions and preferences towards the interactive street art. In collecting the

data, two types of questionnaire, which are self-administered and interview questionnaire,

were conducted throughout the fieldwork. There are four sections consisting of close-

ended questions, scale questions and open-ended questions. Due to the nature of this

study that is conducted within a limited amount of time, a total of 30 questionnaires were

distributed in Kuala Lumpur and 20 were distributed in Kuala Terengganu.

Review of Relevant Studies

Relevant studies on the topic are reviewed to gain knowledge and to get a thorough

understanding of distinctive features of interactive street art, narrative and playful

d e f


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elements of a city. Journals, books and websites from Internet are the main sources in

searching information about public art, street art and interactive street art in the city.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1. Observations and Mapping

Based on the observations and mapping conducted at the sites, there are six interactive

street arts that have been identified, three each in Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Terengganu.

Referring to Figure 3, the available artworks are: (a) painted bench along Jalan TAR; (b)

mural art in Lorong TAR 4; (c) 3D installation and mural art in LRT Masjid Jamek area;

(d) mural art and 3D installation in Turtle Alley; (e) sculpture, 3D illusion and 3D

installation in Memory Lane; and (f) mural art and sculpture in Cultural Lane.

Figure 3 Six types of interactive street art in Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Terengganu

Table 1 indicates the data gathered on each artwork that has been recorded in the

observation form. Each of the street art provides different information on the locations,

types, physical attributes, message, and values according to their settings. From the

observation mapping, it was noted that the existing street art created different levels of

interactivity, but not to the maximum level. With reference to the behavioural mapping

illustrated in Figure 4, a total of 10 criteria have been recorded to show the degrees of

interaction patterns between people and the artwork. The common types of interaction

that occurred are people looking at the artwork, reading it, and taking photo with it. The

higher degree of interaction happened when they are touching it, making it move and

talking about it to others.

Table 1 Typology and attributes of the interactive street art

Site Types Physical Attributes Message (Approach) Values

Medium Colour Narrative Playful

a. Jalan

TAR

Sculpture Painting

on

bench,

relief of

national

flower

Colourful

including

red, blue,

yelllow,

green, etc.

-Patriotic

spirit

among

Malaysian

-Unity in

diversity

-Vibrant

color of

paintings

trick the eye

& create

sense of

excitement

-Aesthetic

(colour, form)

-Social (culture,

multiracial

country)

-Civic (increase

patriotism)

a b c

d e f


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b. Lorong

TAR 4

Mural Art Painting

on wall

Primary

colour

(red, blue,

yellow),

black &

white

-Prime

Minister

faces to

make

people

recognize

easily

NA -Aesthetic

(form, colour)

-Historical and

educational

(recognize

prominent

prime

ministers)

c. LRT

Masjid

Jamek

3D

Installation

Painting

on wall,

metal

structure

& LRT

relief

Cool

colour for

painting

(hues of

blue &

green),

original

colour of

LRT

-A form of

public

transport in

KL

-Busy

interchange

station

-Identity &

landmark

of Masjid

Jamek

-Creates real

ambiance as

the elements

used is

exactly the

same

-Touch &

move the

hand rail

-Sit on the

chair & take

photo with a

vibrant

mural art

-Aesthetic

(colour, form,

3D element,

texture)

-Social

(increase

interaction)

d. Turtle

Alley

Mural Art

& 3D

installation

Wooden

boards,

Mosaic

tile

painting

&

concrete

turtle

sculpture

Dark,

earth

colour

(hues of

brown &

grey),

colourful

mosaic

tiles

-Types of

turtles such

as Green

Turtle,

Hawksbill

Turtle, etc.

-Turtles as

endangered

species

-Awareness

on how to

protect

turtles

-Trivia

boards

-Touch the

relief mosaic

of the turtle

-Read the

textual

message and

story about

turtle

-Enjoy the

painting on

the

pavement

-Aesthetic

(colour, texture)

-Civic

(conserve &

protect turtles)

-Educational

(types and

different

species of

turtles)

-Environmental

(clean

environment,

protect habitat)

e. Payang

Memory

Lane

Sculpture,

3D Illusion

& 3D

Installation

Stone

relief of

the

leaders’

faces,

Painting

on wall

&

hanging

umbrella

Bright

colour of

umbrella

(yellow,

orange,

red),

golden

brown

face relief,

colourful

painting

-Detail

biography

of

prominent

Chinese

leaders

such as

state

excecutive

& MCA

Chairman

-Touch the

relief

leaders’

faces

-Touch and

pull down

umbrella &

take photo.

-Aesthetic

(colour, texture,

3D, 2D form)

-Social

(increase

interaction &

awareness)

-Educational,

historical

(prominent

leaders in Kg.

Cina)

f. Tauke

Weng

Seng Hee

Cultural

Lane

Mural Art

Sculpture

Painting

on wall,

movable

sculpture

& old

signage

Bright

colour

(hues of

red,

orange &

yellow)

-Old

signages

show the

culture

-Old tel.

booth

reminds

people of

ancient

elements

-Lean to the

old post

phone

-Sit on the

bench and

enjoy the

paintings.

-Aesthetic

(colour, texture,

3D, 2D form)

-Cultural,

historical (old,

unique

elements)


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Figure 4 The pattern of interaction with the artworks which the level of interactivity for the first most

interaction (red box) and second most interaction (blue box) are indicated in the legend

a b

c d

e f


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2. Survey Questionnaire

The analysis was done descriptively using frequency (bar charts and graph) and cross-

tabulation. Results of the analysis were tabulated in the form of percentage, mean score

and comparison. In order to identify the demographic background of the respondents,

answers were specified in Section A (see Table 2). Section B shows the respondents’

choice on the interactive street art that they are familiar. Through this, the researcher is

able to examine the awareness level towards that street art. Section C includes close-

ended questions. This section measures respondents’ reasons of choosing the routes, the

ways users interact with the artworks, and feeling towards the street art. Likert scale

questions prompted the respondents to give a rating from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5

(strongly agree) for each statement. Last but not least, Section D obtained respondents’

recommendation regarding the best alternatives for interactive street art to serve as a

medium of narratives and playful elements in the city. The questionnaire included several

open-ended questions to acquire people’s opinions regarding potentials and ways to

improve interactive street art in the future, in enhancing people’s experience in the city.

a. Respondent Profile

From a total of 50 respondents that include the locals and the visitors, there were mainly

females who were Malay (91% in KL and 70% in Terengganu). The respondents

comprised of teenagers up to senior citizens (see Table 2). Although majority of the

respondents are Malays, Chinese respondents were higher in Kuala Terengganu because

the street art is located at the back lanes of a Chinese town called Kampung Cina. It is

interesting to notice that most of the respondents were those between the age of 18-24,

(70% in KL and 60% in Terengganu). Thus, we can relate that the finding is

predominantly based on the views and opinions of university students and secondary

school students, both of which belong to the youth category. Hence, it can be emphasized

that interactive street art attracts youth the most.

Table 2 Summary of respondents’ demographic data

Items Characteristics Kuala Lumpur Kuala Terengganu

Age (years old) <18

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65-74

11%

53%

20%

13%

0%

3%

0%

10%

45%

10%

5%

10%

10%

10%

Gender Male

Female

30%

70%

40%

60%

Race Malay

Chinese

Indian

91%

6%

3%

70%

30%

0%

Education Level Primary school

Secondary school

University students

College students

Others

0%

13%

58%

26%

3%

0%

45%

45%

10%

0%

Occupation Student

Government sector

Private sector

Self-employed

53%

17%

13%

17%

55%

25%

0%

20%


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b. Awareness towards Interactive Street Art

Seven types of interactive street art are listed for the respondents to choose based on their

familiarity with those street art. The types of street art include wall mural/graffiti, 3D

installation, sculpture, technology-based artwork, kinetic art, 3D illusion art and street

performer. In comparing the respondents’ awareness between the two cities, Figure 5

shows that there is a common trend on the percentage of familiarity, where wall

mural/graffiti (83% in KL and 95% in Terengganu) and street performer (67% in KL and

70% in Terengganu) are two most familiar street art for them. The results also illustrated

that most of the users are unfamiliar with the technology-based street art and kinetic art,

as there is less practicality of those types of artwork and is still new in cities in Malaysia.

This suggests that familiarity is contributed by the existence of the street art and what

people see often or experience. The back lanes of Kuala Terengganu provide more types

of interactive street art that are rarely found in Kuala Lumpur, such as 3D installation and

sculpture.

Figure 5 Level of awareness on interactive street art in both cities

c. Perceptions towards Interactive Street Art

Looking at the findings, most of the people agreed that they noticed the existence of the

street art at the sites (63% in KL and 95% in Terengganu). The reason that can be derived

from this result is that most of the people visit the sites almost every day because of the


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locations, adjacency to their offices, and the shortest route for them. However, in Lorong

TAR 4, the case is a quite different as only 50% of the users noticed its existence. This is

contributed to the type of artwork, which is a mural, and the location that is less strategic.

Moreover, Figure 6 analyzed that in Kuala Lumpur, there is a lower level of engagement

in Kuala Lumpur as people move in and out of the LRT, where as they walk in a hurry,

they would only take a quick look at the artwork and take photo, and do not to stop for

time, as compared to the artwork in the back lanes of Kuala Terengganu. This situation

indicates that there is less interactivity in general. However, due to the relaxing ambiance

in Kuala Terengganu where the intention of people going there is mainly for the purpose

of visiting the back lanes, they have more time to interact with the artworks. From the

positive feedbacks, the finding revealed that there is a 100% level of interactivity for

Memory Lane whereby all respondents engaged with it. In addition, Cultural Lane’s

respondents also showed 100% interactivity by looking and standing beside it. 71% of

respondents in both Memory Lane and Cultural Lane are attracted to touch the artworks.

Figure 6 Level of interactivity of people and the street art

For the scale questions, the data tabulated in Figure 7 represented a more positive

feedback from the users in Kuala Terengganu, whereby most of them agreed and strongly

agreed with the statements. As an example, Turtle Alley received a mean score of 5,

where 100% of the respondents strongly agreed that street art could evoke social


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interaction. Specifically for Memory Lane, many people felt neutral that the street art

reminded them of the city’s history. For Kuala Lumpur area, precisely Jalan Tuanku

Abdul Rahman (TAR) with the mean between 2.5-3.4, the users seem to lack awareness

towards those statements because the site is mainly visited for shopping purposes and no

other spaces is more interesting than the shops. As for Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman 4,

people have also could not agree nor disagree that the street art can give a sense a safety.

The street art in the LRT area also could be enhanced further to become a safety booster

as well as a landmark of the city.

As indicated with red dotted line in Figure 7, it is obvious that the Turtle Alley

received the highest mean for most of the statements, except for having attractive colour

and creating a lively city. Thus, this alley can become a benchmark in this study for the

researcher to get some design ideas of how to improve interactive street art. Furthermore,

when the mean scores for the two cities are combined, the attractive colours of the street

art produced the highest score, while the sense of safety needs to be further improved as it

has the lowest mean score. Hence, some actions have to be taken to increase the safety of

the area with the enhancement of those artworks.

Figure 7 Perceptions of the respondents towards the interactive street art

The data show that feelings seem to affect the perceptions of users towards the

street art. Street art with different attributes create different experience and moods to the

users. As seen in Figure 8, the results for both cities show higher percentage of positive

feelings. Most of the people feel entertained by the painted benches in Jalan TAR (60%)

as well as combination of wall art and 3D installation at the LRT area (70%). Meanwhile,

nostalgic feeling (80%) is the most obvious feeling in Lorong TAR 4, which directly

relates to the historical mural art. For the Turtle Alley and Memory Lane in Kuala

Terengganu, it is interesting to see the similar feelings were chosen by the majority:

happy (67%) and entertained (86%). Moreover, Cultural Lane received 100% response in

terms of entertainment to the users. Thus, more interactive street art should be

implemented to evoke people’s feeling and create a vibrant community.

2.9

3.8

3.4

2.8

3.7

4.3

3.9

3.8

3.3

3.9

3.8

3.5

4.1

4

3.8

3.2

4.2

4.3

3.8

4.1

3.9

4.1

4.1

4.3

3.7

4

3.4

3.2

3.8

4.2

3.7

4

3.9

4.2

4.3

4.2

4.2

4.8

4.7

4

4.5

4.7

4.3

4.8

5

4.7

4.7

4.5

2.9

4.3

4.1

3.6

3.7

4.4

4

4.3

4.1

4.3

4.6

4.3

4

4.4

4.1

3.3

4

4.3

4.3

4.7

4.6

4.9

4.9

4.3

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Reminds of history

As playful medium

Acts as landmark

Creates sense of safety

Gives good message

Contributes to tourism

Portrays people's lifestyle

Makes city interesting

Boosts social interaction

Creates lively city

Has attractive colour

Has interesting design

Cumulative mean

PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS INTERACTIVE STREET ART IN KL AND KUALA

TERENGGANU

Jalan TAR Lorong TAR 4 LRT Masjid Jamek Turtle Alley Memory Lane Cultural Lane


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Figure 8 Overall perceptions on feelings towards the artwork

CONCLUSION AND DESIGN RECOMMENDATION Several criteria have been extracted to guide the improvement of interactive street art.

This is to overcome the lack of playfulness in public spaces that involves various physical

interaction, and to creatively enhance the narratives in interpreting the city stories that is

often conventional and textual as compared to visual public artworks within the area.

Design proposal for Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman 4, KL

Based on the findings, Lorong TAR 4 is chosen as an example for the design

recommendation because it had the least degrees of interactions. The site has potential in

evoking the nostalgic feeling and narratives of history. First, the artwork is lacking in

engaging people because it is only a mural that offers passive activities. People only pass

by and look at the mural. Second, there is no element of playfulness in the artwork. Third,

people who interacted with the artwork do not display a feeling of happiness and

entertainment.

Realizing the site can become a landmark to the city of Kuala lumpur and Malaysia,

the design recommendation suggests art installations to encourage and attract more

interactions from the people. As exemplified in the design, more people will be attracted

to interact with the street art with the additional elements. This will then increase the

‘public eye’ of the space from the presence of other people. Hence, the safety will be

increased. Referring to Figure 9, some improvement have been implemented based on the

following key guidelines to tranform Lorong TAR 4 into an interactive lane as follows:

Vibrant colours like red, yellow and blue are used in order to attract youth.

The colours are chosen to reflect the existing nostalgic mural art.

Positive messages are being portrayed in a fun way rather than just through typical

textual form.

Simple, big font texts are used rather than lengthy texts to tell story of the city.

More types of street art are added to create interest and increase familiary to users.

Playful elements are integrated to boost the interactions of the visitors.

The interactivity of people should be ranging from just stop and look at the

artwork up to the extent of touching and making it move.

10

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10 10 10

60

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80

40

70

30

10

67 67 50

0

86 86

29 43

57

100

14

0

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60

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Happy Entertained Peaceful Nostalgic

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Feeling when looking at the artwork

PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS INTERACTIVE STREET ART

IN KUALA LUMPUR AND KUALA TERENGGANU

Jalan TAR Lorong TAR 4 LRT Masjid Jamek

Turtle Alley Memoty Lane Cultural Lane


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Figure 9 The image shows Lorong TAR before and after the recommendation

Interactive street art plays a major contribution towards the city as it brings people

together and make the city to be known all over the world. There are several lessons that

can be concluded from the results. Firstly, interactive street art should reflect something

in a place, and it should serve a purpose or value. People might appreciate something

because of its structured values. The interactive street art should be in variety, in terms of

form, design, character and function, so that it can increase the level of interactivity

between users and the street art itself, while offering them a distinct experiences when

using a space. The space for people to experience the story of a city is also important in

creating a vibrant and cheerful environment. Various activities in the public spaces in the

urban area will attract more people. Interactive street art will also make the street as one

of the favourable place to go. As the city needs some additional creative art to enrich the

area as well as stimulate the built and social environment, interactive street art has

significant potential to act as a medium for people to interact and appreciate their

surrounding, while at the same time creating a playful and memorable place.

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Unveiling Interactive Street Art as Narrative and Playful Elements in the City

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