Reconstructing The Campfire in The Digital Age: An Empirical Study of Collective Interactive Fields in Public Interactive Installations

Jialu Ma

doi:10.54097/1m4g2x96

Authors

Jialu Ma School of Arts, Renmin University of China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/1m4g2x96

Keywords:

interactive design; public space; collective effervescence; digital campfire; posthumanism.

Abstract

In contemporary public spaces saturated by digital technologies, individuals’ dependence on smart devices has continued to intensify, drawing them ever deeper into fragmented modes of information consumption. As a result, the frequency of face-to-face offline communication has declined markedly, while genuine emotional connections have gradually weakened. This phenomenon of “co-presence without co-experience”, in which physical proximity coexists with emotional distance, not only erodes the social interaction functions traditionally embedded in public space, but also accelerates the dilution of collective consciousness in digital contexts. It has thus become an urgent issue within current public space research. In response to this condition, the present study focuses on the need to reconstruct interpersonal interaction in public spaces and proposes an interactive design strategy based on the metaphor of the “digital campfire”. The paper details the design and implementation of the interactive installation Revelation. Drawing on Émile Durkheim’s sociological theory of collective effervescence and the framework of embodied cognition, the study constructs an open interactive field that integrates ethnic symbols, totemic imagery, and future-oriented aesthetics. The findings indicate that by introducing multi-user collaborative activation thresholds and multisensory immersive feedback, interactive installations can effectively disrupt digital isolation and guide participants from passive observation toward active cooperation. Through ritualised interaction, participants are encouraged to rebuild a sense of collective belonging. Beyond a detailed analysis of the installation’s hardware architecture, software logic, and symbolic system, this paper further explores the potential for reconfiguring interpersonal relationships through technological intervention from a posthumanist perspective, offering a practice-oriented pathway for addressing the dilemmas of public interaction in the digital age

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