At most museums, you look at what's on display, maybe read about it, and move on. But imagine an exhibit that's completely dependent on you, the visitor.

That's the case at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh. It's called "Born Digital." The exhibit uses cameras and computer software to see and respond to your actions.

Before you even walk into the museum, you're already interacting with the art. In the front window right next to the door, there's a computer-generated dog waiting to greet you. It'll follow you, hop around on its hind legs and sometimes it'll even bark.

Then once you open the front door, you enter a high-tech world that's a far cry from traditional art galleries.

"At museum settings, the mantra is: 'Do not touch.' Well here, we encourage people to interact and touch," said Elysia Borowy-Reeder, the museum's executive director and exhibit curator.

As an example, Borowy-Reeder led a tour to a little, hanging garden. Dangling from wooden rafters are six living plants, their long stems stretching toward the ground. Above the rafters are speakers hooked up to the plants.

This is where it turns kind of magic.

"The plants pick up on your aura, and when you touch them, you can make an interactive, musical plant concert," Borowy-Reeder said. "So you really have to step into the exhibit to get the plants singing."

The small tour didn't hesitate, and the garden immediately turned into a cacophony of musical notes - some soft, some screeching.

The loudest sound came when one visitor hugged a plant.

French artists created the piece, called "akousmaflore" and this is its American premiere.

Think of "Born Digital" as the natural evolution of art. As technology changes, so does art - and the artists.

Dennis Rosenfeld is an example. He's one of a handful of artists behind the exhibit. He's been doing computer programming for a decade but just got his art degree a few years ago.

"Art is expanding," Rosenfeld said. "It's not like people are putting down their paintbrushes. But this is a growing category that will become part of the broader idea of what art is."