April 11th, 2008 by naccarato
The “surface browser” is an internet browser developed to view images in an extraordinary way. It is a viewing machine which allows us to isolate the imagery that is suspended ‘out there’ in the Internet and contemplate it in a new way. The browser program, for those interested in the technology, is created with a mix of Java and OpenGLs.
The experience of looking at the web through the browser is like flying inside a swirling tunnel where images wrap, creating the sensation of being inside a digital snake that is infinite in length.
When a search word is typed into the program, the browser uses the Google search engine to pull up masses of pictures to process. For instance if “tropical fish” is entered, the search engine operates to link to the thousands of web pages on the internet with pictures of tropical fish. Then it lines them up and spits them out through the tunnel.
You might imagine the experience of being sucked into the internet and perhaps finally we have a visualisation that captures the philosophical and visual essence of what we might have imagined as ‘surfing the internet’.
Tim says, “ … surfing the Internet for me is not a very successful description of clicking from one page to the next. I’m not sure if the surface browser is the answer to really ‘surfing the internet’. You will always hit 404s (missing page message) … and we are once again reminded of the aesthetics of failure inherent in technology”.
This is not a case of creating independent virtual 3d worlds but about remapping the existing visual aspect of the internet into an environment that can be entered and traversed. 
He says, “I am interested in the experience of browsing the internet, exploring ways of looking at the pages and images which give them depth … and a way to explore their surfaces. This is not a case of creating independent virtual 3d worlds but about remapping the existing visual aspect of the internet into an environment that can be entered and traversed. In this way, the solids representing pages can be seen as a way to give volume back to the millions of body images which make up so much of internet network traffic”.
The work is primarily designed for the internet though Tim also sees applications for this in a museum setting where a projection of the work would be generated from the person navigating. In a gallery situation he sees the experience being more about ‘play’ and is aware of the self consciousness it may create in people browsing in a public space.
You can find out more about the surface browser by visiting NESTA. Please note that the ABC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Feature written by Kim Machan
http://www.abc.net.au/arts/digital/stories/s870671.htm
Further Information:
Tim Plaisted’s site: www.boxc.net
MAAP: www.maap.org.au
April 7th, 2008 by naccarato
Installation shot of “Machine for Taking Time”, Gairloch Gallery, Oakville
While all interactive works reflect interactors back to themselves, in many works the idea of the mirror is explicitly invoked. The clearest examples are interactive video installations where the spectator’s image or silhouette becomes an active force in a computer-generated context. Examples include aspects of Myron Krueger’s Videoplace work, Ed Tannenbaum’s Recollections and Very Vivid’s Mandala. The spectator sees some representation of themselves on a video projection screen. This representation follows the movements of the interactor like a mirror-image or shadow, transformed by the potentials with which the artist has endowed the space. These transformations are realized by software running on a computer. In such work, the content is contained in this difference between the gesture and its transformed or recontextualized reflection.
David Rokeby: Transforming Mirrors : Transforming Mirrors
April 7th, 2008 by naccarato
excerpt from: (http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=77&Volet=1)
Jim Campbell, Hallucination, 1988-1990
Digital Watch from 1991, carries on Campbell’s interest in memory and time. This interactive video installation, which was featured at the ICC Biennial in Japan in 1997, uses a clock as its central metaphor. Similar to the set-up of Hallucination, viewers could look at themselves in real time on the screen, but in this case only on the area of the screen that was not taken up by a real time image of a pocket watch. If viewers can glimpse themselves within the frame of the watch, they see an image from approximately five seconds earlier. Marita Sturken states that:
“It’s as if Campbell sets up an exhibition space as a means to both seduce and deter the viewer, and in the process he often forces viewers to examine the issue of desire - specifically our desire to see what we have been told we cannot see. What emerges is a carefully constructed electronic environment, or way of being, that is about surveillance and monitoring.” (3)
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April 5th, 2008 by naccarato
Concept and Definition
“String theory is a model of fundamental physics , whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects called strings , rather than the zero-dimensional point particles that form the basis for the standard model of particle physics . The phrase is often used as shorthand for superstring theory , as well as related theories such as M-theory . By replacing the point-like particles with strings, an apparently consistent quantum theory of gravity emerges. Moreover, it may be possible to “unify” the known natural forces ( gravitational , electromagnetic , weak nuclear and strong nuclear ) by describing them with the same set of equations, as described in the theory of everything .
CONTINUED
April 4th, 2008 by naccarato
Project Title: Untitled
Project Type: Installation
Project Time: Open (looped video sequences approx. 4 min.)
The new work explores the notions of presence and identity. The work revolves around a semi-enclosed structure which incorporates Mylar screens, two video projectors, a web cam, pre-recorded video, TV monitor, and Max/Jitter software.
The intent of this new work is to explore ways in which technology records, invents, reproduces and intervenes on the notions of presence and identity.
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