Results of the competition on interactive media concepts

Monica Fleischmann GMD - Forschungszentrum Informationstechnik GmbH Fleischmann@gmd.de

The Australian artist Simon G. Penny has won first prize in the Cyberstar '98 Competition for his concept 'Traces'.

Cyberstar '98

The WDR Cologne and the German National Research Center for Information Technology (GMD), Sankt Augustin, this year presented the Cyberstar competition - Shared Visions - for the second time. At the beginning of May the jury decided on the winners. The selection process was supported by members of the i3 project eRENA.
The presentation of prizes took place 14 June 1998 in Kommunikations- und Medienzentrum (KOMED) at the MediaPark. 200 guests were watching as the Cyberstar award, 'Cyberview', was handed over. Winners, jurors and experts discussed the entries and the future of interactive media.
The jury members paid tribute to Penny's definiton of space as communication environment. They are convinced that 'Traces' is an important contribution to the technical and esthetic development of advanced telecommunication forms.

These discussions between winners and jurors took place in a shared environment created in 1993 by artist Paul Sermon. In 'Telematic Vision' the communication partners remain at different places. With the help of blue screen technique the images are keyed together. During the discussion, the persons orientate on the image on a monitor which brings together the partners in media space, while they are not together in real space. The rules of telecommunications are ironically undermined.

About the Artist

Simon G. Penny is an Australian artist, theorist and teacher in the field of Electronic and Interactive Media Art. His art practice consists of interactive and robotic installations, which have been exhibited in the US, Australia and Europe.
He is Associate Professor of Art and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University where, among other things, he teaches Gizmology, Robotic Art Studio and Theory of Interactive Art. He established the Electronic Intermedia Program at the University of Florida in 1990-93, curated Machine Culture, a world survey of interactive art (at SIGGRAPH 93 in Anaheim CA) and edited the anthology Critical Issues in Electronic Media (SUNY Press 1995). He is on the board of the International Society of Electronic Arts.

'Traces'

'Traces' connects GMD's CyberStage with virtual reality systems of the same kind, so-called CAVEs. CyberStage is a 4 side stereo display system which creates the illusion of immersion within a computer generated virtual environment. Users see large virtual spaces, hear spatially distributed sound and experience vibrations of the floor to get an impression much more realistic than the one delivered by other VR environments.
By connecting these advanced systems, Penny explores the esthetics of physical presence in telecommunication processes. As in his installation 'Fugitive', developed 1993-95 at the ZKM in Karlsruhe, 'Traces' is concerned with the development of 'intuitive interfaces' which involve the whole body and its language.

Simon G. Penny explains 'Traces'

"As more of our social and cultural lives occur in wider bandwidth online settings, questions arise about embodiment, virtuality and the possibility to 'be' in two locations at once. 'Traces' is a project for networked CAVEs (immersive VR spaces). The focus is real-time spatial/bodily interaction between distant participants via real-time 3D image (and sound) traces. The work will function as both a telematic performance environment and a public interactive experience." (June 1998)

eRENA and Cyberstar

Members of the i3 project eRENA have already played a very active part in the Cyberstar '98 competition - by supporting the process of selection of the winners. Furthermore, the winning concept, 'Traces,' will be supported by the eRENA project.

'Heaven & Hell'

'Heaven & Hell', a project developed by the eRENA partner Illuminations and British Telecom, together with Channel 4 Television and Sony, was judged by the Cyberstar jury to be the best already-realized project. They hailed it as a groundbreaking event in broadcasting and Internet history.

More information can be found on
http://www.wdr.de/cyberstar/98win_e.html
http://imk.gmd.de/docs/ww/mars/proj1_4.mhtml

© 1998,1999,2000 i3net	-- Search i3net --	About the i3net web pages
Revised: 22 January, 1999.		Mail to webmaster@i3net.org