The idea for this interactive installation is
probably inspired by action painting, a painting style
that was widespread from the 1940s until the early
1960s. Action painting, sometimes called "gestural
abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is
spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto
the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The
resulting work often emphasizes the physical act of
painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished
work or concern of its artist. The term was coined by
the American critic Harold Rosenberg in 1952 and
signaled a major shift in the aesthetic perspective of
New York School painters and critics. According to
Rosenberg the canvas was "an arena in which to
act". Rosenberg's redefinition of art as an act rather
than an object, as a process rather than a product,
was influential, and laid the foundation for a number
of major art movements.