The 8th Continent is an interactive art experience with gamified elements that foster public dialogue about plastic pollution. In the 21st century, plastic pollution has emerged as one of the most severe environmental issues. The work, through an immersive 3D environment inspired by the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, enables the participants’ engagement as content creators to form an inclusive digital space for knowledge sharing and community expression. By featuring voice recordings from participants and reclaiming public screens used for advertisements, this work explores the potential of participatory knowledge to establish a decolonized space for ecological discussions.

Since the early 2000s, cultural institutions have been instrumental in urban media art by reshaping public spaces, fostering community engagement, and nurturing artistic innovation. Central to these initiatives are audience interaction and participation concepts, yet their definitions and applications in urban media art remain nebulous. This article endeavours to demystify these terms, examining the distinct characteristics and intersections of interactive and participatory art within urban contexts. A particular emphasis is placed on artworks that harmonise both elements, exploring the motivations and outcomes of this synthesis. The case study of We Are The Clouds serves as a focal point, exemplifying how strategic integration of interaction and participation can enhance community connection and reinvigorate public spaces. Through this analysis, the paper underscores the transformative power of urban media artworks in redefining neighbourhood experiences, empowering local voices, and revitalising the essence of public realms.

This paper describes an interdisciplinary path to ways of knowing about creative practice engaging with public encounter. An interdisciplinary research methodology is demonstrated as developing from creative studio practice in new media to incorporate ethnographic methods, grounded theory methods, and thick description to induce knowledge from the public encounter with a generative, ambient installation. Each stage of the research strategies is accounted for, and the overall interdisciplinary cycle framed within theories of Double Loop learning. The outcomes reveal an interdisciplinary methodology that can be generalized for studying the cycle through creative practice, public exhibition, and public encounter. This general approach to research methodology provides value for students, creative practitioners, and researchers who seek to understand the emergent, inductive, and relational aspects of interdisciplinary creative practice. This paper will be of use to those engaged in the praxis-research nexus, providing definitions and models for communicating knowledge contributions in new media arts and design.