Artwork as Interface

Artworks are highly coded power objects. At best, they serve aswindows onto profound and unspeakable experience; at worst,they're simply ``wall obstructions.'' In this paper, two issueswill be addressed: (1) What do artists, in their role asextremely subtle information designers, have to teach us abouthow deep knowledge is conveyed? What do their visual strategiesteach us about interface? And (2) how can a digital program bedesigned that respects the properties inherent in each artwork,and yet harnesses the power of multimedia to make connectionsacross space and time?