The Ring was exhibited on the 22nd of November 2024 during the queer art rave Riposte at Electrowerkz, a vibrant multi-floor venue located in the Angel area of London. This exhibition provided a unique opportunity to test audience engagement and interaction with the installation within the dynamic context of a club night. My objective was to explore diverse behaviours, degrees of individual engagement, and the overall impact of the piece on attendees who, through their interaction, effectively became performers themselves.

Positioning The Ring within the bustling, energetic environment of a club presented a mix of challenges and insights. The goal was to transform the typical club-goer experience, immersing participants in a blend of sonic and visual stimuli while encouraging them to engage beyond passive observation. By doing so, the installation sought to blur conventional boundaries—not just between body and sound, but also between audience and artwork.

Implementing The Ring in this particular setting proved both stressful and complex. The venue’s acoustically congested environment necessitated significant adaptations to the original design. Although the installation was conceived as a multichannel setup, the loud music from the surrounding rooms made this approach impractical. Instead, wireless headphones were utilized to create a more focused auditory experience. Additionally, the installation was placed in the club’s designated chill-out area, yet it was not immune to external noise interference, as a nearby loudspeaker directed music from one of the other rooms toward the installation space.

Despite these challenges, the installation successfully garnered a notable amount of interest and participation. Attendees engaged with The Ring in varied and often unexpected ways. Some individuals immersed themselves fully in the audiovisual (AV) games, exploring the interactivity and engaging with the installation’s sonic and visual elements as intended. Others, however, treated the installation more superficially, using it primarily as a backdrop for social media photos, with minimal interest in its interactive or auditory components.

Observing these interactions highlighted intriguing patterns in audience behaviour. The majority of participants seemed compelled to engage with the scales and explore the installation’s interactive features, demonstrating curiosity and playfulness. This response was particularly encouraging given the auditory challenges posed by the nearby loudspeaker.

This context-specific performance of The Ring offered valuable insights into how interactive installations function in non-traditional art spaces. The club night setting, with its inherent distractions and competing sensory stimuli, presented an entirely different dynamic than a gallery or more controlled environment might. These challenges underscored the importance of adaptability in interactive art and revealed fascinating tensions between audience intentions, environmental constraints, and the installation’s immersive potential. By inviting the audience to become co-creators, The Ring succeeded in fostering a participatory atmosphere, even if the depth of engagement varied widely among attendees. This experience will undoubtedly inform future iterations of the project, particularly in balancing accessibility, interactivity, and the intended impact of the installation.