orb
Artistic reflections on telepresence, time and space
over distance, sensory presence, imagination, information
visualization.
The idea of the project is to explore
and visualize interaction between two physically and temporally
separate places through the use of different kinds of sensor
technology.
ORB is a collaborative project between Smart Studio
and a group of students at the Conceptual Information Arts
Dept., San Francisco State University.
Based on discussions about telecommunications and telepresence
the idea to start a collaborative project came up as a possibility
to create a living link between the two places and thus
establish a place for experimentation around these issues.
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| One of many iVisit conferences |
3D visualization of spatial activity |
The idea of this project is to explore and visualize interaction
between two physically and temporally separate places. The
interaction creates and uses the transmission of abstracted
information streams. This processing and interpretation
of data is continuously generated through the use of different
kinds of sensor technology.
In each of the two places, San Francisco (SF) and Stockholm
(STO) a small 10sqm room has been built and furnished identically.
(In this prototype version the furniture is similar but
not identical). The intention of this uniformity is to create
a physical intimacy between the spaces by giving the participants
a sense of common ground. It also places focus on the movement
rather than on the objects (furniture etc.). The primary
purpose of the objects is to register the movement and they
have been embedded with different kinds of sensory input
and output which enables an information link between the
two remote spaces.
For example, a photosensor in the back of a chair in one
place triggers a heat conducting actuator in the seat of
a similar chair in the other place or sound picked up by
a microphone built into a table surface triggers a frequency/amplitude
pattern on the wall of the other place.
The two spaces are built as simple lounge areas where people
can sit down and socialize over a coffee or read and the
remote action exists as an unobtrusive, ambient presence.
A person can choose to engage in, observe or even ignore
the remote presence, it will not be an imposed interaction
but rather an addition to the commonplace.
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| sound visualization using FFT |
sketch for room interaction |
We have been working with low bandwidth and simple, easy-to-use
technology and with time delay as a conceptual asset rather
than as a problem, using the time difference between the
places as a memory bank and stretching time through the
past-present-future of the two places. In this way we have
found that an absolute "now and here" ceases to
exist and is replaced by several simultaneous spatiotemporal
intensities and there is no way of establishing the priority
of one over the other.
The project name ORB refers to this state of flux as borrowed
from paranormal terminology meaning transformed energy patterns.
It is an attempt to stretch the possibilities of communication
technology into areas that do not necessarily demand answers
or measures of efficiency but rather reflect upon our notions
of time, space and being.
>> More information at the
orb website
©
2003 Smart Studio