1 The Evolution of the Concept of Interaction

The term interaction is used in everyday language to refer to the phenomenon of inter-relations. As early as 1901, the Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology defined interaction as the relation between two or more relatively independent things or systems of change which advance, hinder, limit, or otherwise affect one another, with reference both to body-mind relations and to interrelations between objects in the environment and between objects and the environment.^[1]

According to this definition—which still applies today—all sound-image combinations based on interplay between auditory and visual information are interactions. However, more specific uses of the term became established in various scientific disciplines over the course of the 20th century. Whereas in sociology, interaction generally refers to relations between people, in the computer and media sciences the term is typically discussed with reference to the human-machine interface (HMI).^[2] This contribution will use the term in the latter sense, focusing on artistic projects that invite audiences to interact with audiovisual systems.