There are good reasons why sculpture and interactive art are becoming desirable alternatives to conventional art for a new generation of collectors, says our Sculptor

Art has moved on from being just a painting in a frame on a wall, and this is something I realise more each day with the growing technologies that surround us.

As the director of Helium Foundation, I am always looking for exciting new trends in art that serve to challenge audiences worldwide. However, when I worked as a trained sculptor I was allowed to indulge my selfishness when I created a piece of work. Everything was based on my experiences, my interpretations, my emotions, in the hope that when the world looks at it they appreciate what is in front of them. Looking at it this way, sculpture is a very self-indulgent medium.

In most cases, the viewer’s only ability is to analyse and empathise with the artist in order to find the meaning in what is in front of them. To me there seemed to be a definite line between the art and the person looking at it, and that was something that I found echoing in society too; if you didn’t get it, you weren’t part of the gang. The art world was full of people talking about art for investment and how much it will make them in the coming years. What about actually appreciating it, understanding it and letting it be something that makes you think in a different way? Our research took us down an avenue that has produced some of the most successful ‘art’, in its true sense, in the past decade. It had little to do with investment or profit; it was about allowing people to find new experiences, view the world through someone else’s eyes and be responsible for the finished masterpiece that had been conceived by someone who they ordinarily would have had no connection with. It is the coming together of artist and viewer that brings so-called ‘interactive art’ to life.

Think of a room filled with lights that change colour and brightness due to the presence of body heat. Think of a large glass window, like one in a high street store. Images appear on the glass and you on the street outside can move them around and create new images by merely sliding your hand across the glass.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of what is possible and what is being done in the world of interactive art. Interactive artists are those people who have looked to other things as a medium from which to create their work. A painter uses oils, a sculptor may use clay, and an interactive artist uses technology and a participant to complete their work. What binds them all is the urge to create a piece of art and the desire to spark a reaction in the audience.

Nowhere is this more apparent than with interactive art, purely because the person viewing the work is allowed to participate. In some way they will have a bearing on what happens to the piece before them. With traditional art forms, viewers are not an intrinsic part of the work: they are only allowed to observe.

The social shift in appreciation for contemporary art has been enormous in recent years. Artists want to challenge their viewers, include them, have their opinions argued. The connection between the artist and his audience has never been stronger, and this reaches across all mediums. The end product is not its best unless the population has added to it.

JENNIFER MCCORMICK is director of the Helium Foundation, selling works by leading contemporary artists including Banksy and Damien Hirst. www.heliumfoundation.com