Ken Goldberg is an engineering professor at University of Calfornia, Berkley. He creates video installation pieces that require audience participation and simultaneously operate without it. His piece Telegarden is an online based piece consisting of the image of a garden surrounding a robotic arm. The audience is instructed to water the plants and can then watch the robotic arm move to complete the action of the participant. However it is impossible to tell whether "the users' actions have actually contributed to the growth of the plants on the Telegarden website." Goldberg wants to challenge users to question the "suspension of disbelief" present when using internet programs such as this one. Audience members assume that they actually have control, but they also know on some level that they may not, that the entire thing could be "staged."
Goldberg's work reflects an interdisciplinary approach to new media art. For instance, his engineering background contributes to his ability to to construct the technical parts of Telegarden. This can be considered a quality of some new media art in that there is often an electrical, or more technical, knowledge necessary, which requires a different kind of training and background than more traditional forms of art.
(from New Media Art wiki)
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