Frankenhead - Exploring Participatory Engagement and Play as a Cultural Event

Frankenhead is a playable sculpture inspired by Mary Shelley's 1818 novel “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus.” It explores the idea of constructing an artificial creature from the bits and pieces of existing beings. Just as the imaginary Dr. Frankenstein, in the 19th century, used electricity to build a creature and bring it to live, players use digital media to puzzle together body parts drawn from a database containing a large collection of representations of Frankenstein’s monster, ranging from the first illustrations of the novel to contemporary depictions of the Frankenstein myth. The public installation allows multiple players to collaboratively piece together the monster. Players can use a face detection software that takes their own picture, decomposes it into its parts, and inserts it into the Frankenhead database to become part of the monster-puzzle. Players insert internally coded, blank modules into sockets in the sculpture; once inserted, the modules appear as the body parts they are. Players can move them around to piece together a monster of their liking. The project realizes a contemporary take on the topic of the novel and remaps aspects of the techno- and gender-criticism of Shelley’s writing to today’s techno-social landscape. The paper presents the design decisions and implementation of the installation and discusses the findings made observing players during the event.