Humans as a source of entertainment for pigs

Pigs playing with a football during our first visit to a pig farm, the boldest piglet appears to be more interested in us and our camera

After Clemens got in touch with the Utrecht School of the Arts, we spent a number of days researching and designing a first instance of a game for pigs. It was during this first phase of the project that the idea emerged to use humans as a source of entertainment for pigs.

There were a few things that lead up to this. During our first visit to Mr. van der Vegt’s farm we were accompanied by Marc Bracke, who told us many things about pig behaviour. One thing he pointed out was their fascinations for all things new in their environment. As such, one of the most effective forms of entertainment for them is a hanging basket filled with fresh hay. They enjoy rooting through it and looking for small kernels or seeds to eat. A basket like this stays interesting to them for around a day. After which it needs to be replenished.

Early brainstorming results mentioning our desire to stay away from extrinsic rewards

When we went into the pens ourselves, we experienced the fascination pigs have for new things firsthand, as we were that new thing. All the pigs would first run away from us. Later on they would carefully approach as a group. Then a few bold individuals would start sniffing our legs. Soon enough we’d be surrounded by pigs chewing on our toes and trousers. We might just be edible, after all.

So we started thinking, what could be an effective way of creating a constantly changing play environment for pigs? We weren’t convinced a computer would suffice. Also, Clemens was already very much interested in the subversive potential of a symmetrical play space for pigs and humans.

A few sketches of various concepts

So we pursued this idea further. After our visit to the farm we developed several concepts. We produced paper prototypes and tested those with people from various backgrounds Marc and Clemens were our first guinea pigs, later on we played with a number of farmers. Their responses told us a lot about what would be most appealing to humans. To some extent, it uncovered new insights into the controversies around playing with livestock. For instance, some farmers weren’t comfortable with the idea that a player might develop a bond with a specific pig that would later be taken to slaughter.

We ended up doing a rough video sketch of one idea, which was about remote play between a human and a pig. At this stage we were still very much committed to tangible interaction on the pig’s end. We were also thinking about a robust solution that could withstand the enthusiastic exploratory behaviour typical of pigs, sometimes informally described by us as “creative vandalism”. Finally, we were already trying to come up with an activity that would be intrinsically rewarding for pigs. We did not want to manipulate them into forms of play using treats or other kinds of food. We’re pretty sure you can get a pig to do almost anything for a snack, they’re certainly clever enough.

One of several paper prototypes, this one exploring remote interaction over streaming video

The video that we ended this phase with involves a surface in the pig pen that is flexible. Pigs can push into it. In response, humans can remotely push on it from the other side, using an iPhone app. They can see where pigs are pushing and can also see a ball that is dropped on the frame in the pig pen. This ball is supposed to draw the attention of pigs by virtue of its sudden appearance, supported with some sound effects. The aim of the game is to collaboratively move this ball to a pocket in one of the frame’s corners. So pigs and humans score together on this pig pen pool table.

A series of frames from the first video sketch