Internet and network art -2008

Concept proposal

Using the open brief as a platform, the theme or themes we hope to explore for this assignment are Telepresence and Telematic art. Telepresence can be described as a computer-generated environment consisting of interactive simulations and computer graphics in which a human being experiences being present in a remote location. The advent of personal computers in combination with the popular use of the worldwide web has made the world smaller in terms of communication and contact. Social networks like chat-rooms in the early days to modern day networks built on complex online applications like Facebook and MySpace, give users a socio-cyber presence of which most individuals are willing participants. Furthermore, the willingness of participants (web users) to share or rather exhibit personal items from thoughts to photos to activities online has further enhanced their social presence online. Artists like Bruce Naumann in the 70s to more recently; Eduaudo Kac and Danny Rozin have experimented with Telematics in intriguing fashion. Our concept hopes to carry on this tradition by implementing the most commonly used technology in existence today, Computer networks. Kac states that “the role of the artist in interactive art is not to encode messages unidirectionally but to define the parameters of the open-ended context in which experiences will unfold... An art that addresses the cultural, material and philosophical conditions of our time must manifest itself with the means of our time.”

The artefact will consist of a video composite showing two subjects in the same space at the same time, interacting with the environment. This environment is a bedroom, but the two subjects will be in two different locations and their “presence” in the bedroom together is the result of video feed blending via software called Eyesweb. This program allows multiple video inputs from remote locations that are then manipulated accordingly to produce a desired effect. In the case of our artefact we are trying to make two distant locations and their respective subjects present in a third location as if they were actually present in the same space and time. By combining these two locations we hope to continue in the tradition of existing social networks that dissolve geographical boundaries. Paul Sermon’s Telematic Dreaming (Fig 1) and subsequently Telematic Vision is of huge influence to our proposal thus artefact.

Fig 1: Paul Sermon’s Telematic Dreaming

The setup for this artefact involves two web cams and three computers, all with Eyesweb running and two humans as the subject. Each web cam will be connected to a computer and situated in two different physical spaces. As the ultimate goal is to combine personal spaces, these locations will preferably be the subjects bedroom as this represents the most private and personal space of people. Both cameras will be transmitting a feed of the subject’s activities in the bedroom to the third computer in another location. This is made possible as Eyesweb has the capability to transmit a video (or audio feed) to another computer by sending the signal to a remote computer’s IP address. Therefore as you can imagine, this will be done twice, simultaneously for both subjects. The capabilities and potentials of Eyesweb are exploited by user created patches. These are a set of computer algorithms that consist of elements that execute different functions (e.g. display video feed, transmit to network, change picture blur or blend video.) that can work in parallel or serially. As you can imagine, the more compound the patch the more complex the function. At present we have created two basic patches for the three machines as the two remote machines will execute identical patches.

Live feed/remote computer patch: PATCH A

This is a web cam feed then run through a threshold/movement analysis algorithm. This captures the first frame as an empty black one. Any subsequent movement within that frame becomes white and is seen.

Blending patch: PATCH B

As the name suggests, this is a patch made up of algorithms that blend both feeds by reducing the alpha channels of both feeds. As both feeds of PATCH A contain only black and white information (black being background, white being subject) there are no transparency issues. This video blend function is then controlled by a slider that controls the amount of each feed is displayed. However if for logistic reasons or otherwise, the live performance and implementation of this is not possible, Eyesweb also allows us to transmit recorded video. This will give us more control over the production of the artefact because we can choreograph each set of movements and capture this on video separately allowing for us the artists to capture the best performance of the subjects. Both the videos can then be edited, blended and the composite manipulated in any way we see fit.

Towards the future however, it is hoped that an interactive version of this video installation will be produced for our degree show; an installation that will involve a pair of physical markers and audio instructions in two different spaces for two participants to complete a choreographed set of moves. In form, it aims to be similar to RePossesed by Nick Haeffer. This is a travelling exhibition offering the chance to remake Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which seeks to confront the power relations that exist between audiences and moving image authors. Although both these pieces are different in function, the implementation of technology to produce an artefact that demonstrates telematic relationships between subjects, time and place, make both works similar.

As a group we are up for this challenge although with only limited resources to be able to produce this. As a result, the video work to be produced for this module will lack audience interaction but encourage participation on an emotional level. The strength of the technology, namely Eyesweb as well as the idea of telematics, social networking and the sharing of personal space, make up for the lack of certain aesthetic values. It is hoped that at the end of the fourteen weeks a work will be produced that is of a technically and artistic high value that clearly demonstrates an understanding of the way networks can be used to construct meaning as well as show an awareness to emerging technologies and an ability to create an artwork that covers more than one physical site.

At the very least at the end of the module and the degree, the group aims to produce an artefact that exhibits its collective understanding of network art, encompassing telematics, telerobotics, wireless technologies, locative media, social networks and data visualisation, while applying critical theory to every stage of the research and production process. Appropriately documenting individual and collaborative research and production developments via blogs is another of the groups core aims for this assignment and module.

Group members: Michelle Andrews, Christianna Fazerkerley, Amit Hundal and Braima Dama James