The Invisible Planet: Panel Notes

Symposium:


Session Title:
  • The Invisible Planet: Networked Virtual Reality, Virtual Cities and Culture (Spacecapes)

Presentation Title:
  • The Invisible Planet: Panel Notes

Presenter(s):


Abstract:

  • Panel Statement

    Panel: The Invisible Planet

    I will present two recent ‘televirtual’ projects – TELEVIRTUAL CHIT CHAT by Jeffrey Shaw and THE TELEVIRTUAL FRUIT MACHINE by Agnes Hegedus. Both works were produced at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) Karlsruhe, Germany, and the application software was written by Gideon May.

    TELEVIRTUAL CHIT CHAT was a telematic installation between the IMAGINA in Monte Carlo and the ZKM in Karlsruhe in 1993. Players at both sites communicated in a shared visual space generated by Silicon Graphics computers linked by modem. Players could choose letters from the alphabet and manipulate their shape and spatial position so as to create shared and interwoven word- architectures on top of a game board that represented the geographical space between Monte Carlo and Karlsruhe. The work evokes a metaphor for all those ‘first words’ now being projected into cyberspace. THE TELEVIRTUAL FRUIT MACHINE was a telematic installation between the NIT/IC’93 exhibition MEDIA PASSAGE in Tokyo, and the ZKM exhibition MultiMediale 3 in Karlsruhe in 1993. Players at both sites communicated in a shared visual space generated by Silicon Graphics computers linked by modem. An ISDN videophone link also enabled the players to see and talk to each other. Each player controlled the spatial disposition of half of a spherical object, mapped on whose surface were images of various fruits. The goal for the two players was to join the respective halves of this sphere, and their success would be rewarded by a shower of virtual Japanese or German coins – evoking those ubiquitous gambling fruit machines as well as fruitful intercourse.

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