The Technological Gaze: How we see audiences, and the unmodern sublime

In addressing the question of how we think and model the participant, user or audience for interactive systems, we initiate an interrogation of who we think we are, and what we think technology is in relation to who we think we are. Future-proofing innovation in design thinking must involve serious thought about conceptual models for how we see ourselves as makers and audiences, since they precede design solutions. Here, lessons and transferable insights from live performance and experience design can inform design thinking in digital materialities. This paper will explore the nature and direction of the technological gaze on audiences or human system users and interrogate its influence on design. Subsequently, it introduces observations from live event design that modifies techne with metis to invite the sublime as an integral part of immersive experience.