Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges

This paper presents the interactive audiovisual installation “Hyper Kafka: Rooms of Memory”, which took place in the Library Amphitheater of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens (UoA) in December 2024, as the result of the collaboration between the Department of Audio & Visual Arts of the Ionian University and the Department of German Language and Literature of the UoA in the context of the “Kafka Year 2024” celebrations. Selected artworks of hypertext fiction created by students of the Pedagogical and Didactical Sufficiency Program (PDSP) of the Department of Audio and Visual Arts aimed to reflect, interpret, and highlight themes and nuances of the Kafkaesque literary universe through a web of virtual spaces, connected by non-linear pathways, which visitors could explore with a mouse on a desk in the center of the dark room. The desk was decorated with pictures of Kafka’s personal drawings and other relevant documents, and subtly, yet directionally lit by an old-fashioned lamp to enhance visitors’ immersion in the installation’s narrative space. The artworks were projected on the wall and played back through speakers aiming to foster the social aspect of the installation and engage the audience in the activity run by the person in control. 

Hypertext Fiction is regarded as a subset of Interactive Digital Narratives based on textual nodes and navigational links [1]. The artworks were created as the students’ final assignments for the course “Curriculum Augmentation Technologies” delivered by the authors, who have analyzed their methodological approach in a previous publication [2]. In this paper, the authors briefly present the artworks themselves aiming to demonstrate one of the core aspects of their approach, i.e. the coexistence and interaction of different perspectives in a dynamic, dialectic environment. Then, they discuss the design specifications and challenges pertaining to the installation including i) the graphic design and programming of an interactive application, and ii) the props and set design for the scenographic preparation of the installation space.  

The interactive application consists of two main parts. The first part provides access to the hypertext fiction artworks, along with information about the installation and its contributors. The second part showcases the selected artworks. Both parts are developed using web technologies to enhance usability and provide an application template that students can easily use to create their own artworks. The graphic design for the UX/UI of the first part of the interactive application was developed to enhance user immersion, ensuring a seamless and intuitive navigation experience within the hypertext fiction environment. The design embraced a literary feel with a dark aesthetic, incorporating a 3D environment to offer the audience a glimpse into the chaotic, minimal, and symbolized immersive experience that unfolded throughout the installation. The graphic design of the second part, used as the template for the artworks, is based on the concept of a walled space—representing rooms, sections of a tower, or a labyrinth—featuring 'doors' that allow users to navigate the stories. This concept inspired the title “Rooms of Memory”. 

Three postgraduate students of the Department of German Language and Literature were recruited to evaluate the installation through a questionnaire and a semi-structured discussion. The participants were first given one hour to visit the installation and browse through the virtual artworks at will. Then they were asked to fill in a short questionnaire comprised of seven statements to be evaluated through a 7-point Likert scale. The authors conducted this questionnaire to gather insight into the installation’s aesthetic, technical, and educational aspects, and juxtapose this data with the participants’ experience in contemporary digital arts and the literary work of Kafka. In the final phase of the research, a semi-structured discussion took place, aiming to let the participants further elaborate on their initial responses.   

The discussion was transcribed and qualitatively analyzed. The results showed that, although the three participants were middle-aged and lacking familiarity with hypertext fiction and human-computer interaction, they were impressed by the installation. They emphasized that the artworks succeeded in capturing Kafka’s absurdity, the technical execution was well-made, and the configuration of the space helped to create an immersive atmosphere. The authors are aware that the sample of three participants is very limited and thus can only imply some preliminary notions to be tested in the future. Nevertheless, it can serve as an inspiring testimony that hypertext fiction, both as interactive medium and aesthetic outcome, is timely relevant and can incorporate learning environments for the study and dissemination of literary subjects.