“Name Game” is an interactive exhibition installation project participated by the contemporary art collective Rebel9 from South Korea. It is exhibited as part of the special exhibition “The Art of Naming” at the MMCA Cheongju branch from October 11, 2024, to February 23, 2025.
The project is located at MMCA Cheongju, which is one of the branches of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea, responsible for collecting and exhibiting Korean modern art and international art. MMCA Cheongju exhibitions often explore art history, image context, and social semantics through special exhibitions. Centered around the core of artistic experience, “Title,” the exhibition aims to explore how the title of a work affects viewers’ understanding of art and the creative significance of “naming.” The exhibition brings together artworks from the museum’s collection while proposing a reflection on traditional naming rights.
Core interactive device: “Name Game”
Name Game A (Interactive Co-creation Device)
“Name Game A” is an interactive media installation that generates new names for artworks through AI interaction with visitors. Visitors select inspiration keywords from a set of NFC keyword cards, which are related to the exhibition works. By inputting the card information into a digital interface, AI assists in generating new naming results. This design allows the audience to become “co-namers” in the process of participation, rather than just passively accepting art names.
In this installation, the combination of physical cards and digital interface creates a game-like participatory experience, temporarily sharing the naming rights traditionally held by artists with the public, prompting reflection on the relationship between images and language. The inspiration for the installation stems from the exploration of naming methods by the surrealist painter René Magritte.
The device consists of a digital signage, physical buttons, NFC cards, and an e-book interface, and is installed on the surface of a wooden base coated with polyurethane.
Name Game B (a name sharing and voting platform)
“Name Game B” is a sharing and interactive platform where visitors can view the naming results generated by other participants on-site or through a digital interface, and choose their preferred names through on-site voting. As a public participation and shared space, it enhances the exhibition’s presentation of the possibilities of interpreting the diversity of art titles.
This part of the installation displays generated names in real-time through digital tags and allows for audience voting interaction. The exhibition utilizes the visual symbol of the Necker cube to symbolize the possibility of multiple interpretations of the same work, while the overall neutral gray and white design helps visitors intuitively distinguish between different media functions. The main body of the installation is a tabletop with an inclined structure, equipped with 28 NFC cards, encouraging interaction among visitors.
Core Curatorial Significance
In traditional creation, the title of an artwork is usually determined by the artist or the curatorial team. The experiment of “Name Game” fundamentally rethinks “naming” as a mode of power and experience in cultural production by involving the public in the naming process.
The project enables different visitors to have different understandings of the same work through visualized participation results, real-time voting, and sharing mechanisms, which also reflects the core concept of “art is not a single interpretation” from the interactive level.
Inspired by surrealist semantic practices, the design of “Name Game” is not merely an interactive installation, but a profound experiment exploring the relationship between imagery and language. Through interactive naming, visitors can experience how language constructs, transforms, and even reshapes the viewing experience.
Brief Summary
“Name Game” is an interactive exhibition installation designed and implemented by Rebel9. Through collaborative creation, real-time feedback, and a public naming game, it rekindles contemplation on the naming conventions of artworks, language, and the relationship between viewing. It transcends the traditional limitations of art naming rights, allowing viewers to become part of the creation process through participation, highlighting new possibilities for user engagement and experiential engagement in contemporary exhibitions.
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