Turn a plasma screen into interactive art

Plasma screens torment the design-minded, who have come up with all sorts of clever ways to hide blank, black screens occupying huge chunks of wall space. With the holiday season upon us, screens are sure to infiltrate even more homes.

But New York gallery owner Steve Sacks sees plasma screens as an opportunity to introduce regular folk to a different form — new media art.

The result is a Web site (www.softwareartspace.com) that sells software for the plasma screen that is part of a new genre of multimedia art. Instead of looping like a screensaver, the interactive software designed by artists reacts to a wireless mouse (or a finger, if you buy a touch screen), morphing depending on how it is manipulated.

You can choose from moonflowers that grow, a desert scene where rocks and plants zoom in and out as you race around the screen or a color field that you can manipulate.

"This is actually the artist using the code as their brush or their clay and then creating a piece of interactive art," said spokeswoman Amy Morris Shapiro. "The pieces are generative, moving and changing, and you can interact with them to move them even more."

It's a clever way to accommodate the person who refuses to cover up his or her plasma screen — and still incorporate design.

The software costs $125 and requires a plasma screen that can be hooked up to a computer.

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com