Cursed Objects: making interactive horror props (emf2026)

How do you scare someone safely? How do you build terrifying interactions that are still inviting to try? We've been making novel interactive props using a wide array of technology, uncovering a design language for spooky interaction that has also highlighted how easy it is to make something unintentionally funny, or too difficult to understand, or too frightening to have a go, or too complex to build. It's a complex brief but has yielded a simple set of design questions and approaches that are valuable for any kind of making for audiences, putting the artist's intentionality at the centre of the making process. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/158-cursed-objects-making-interactive-horror-props