Videoplace

1999

Myron W. Krueger (US)
Katrin Hinrichsen

The installation "Videoplace" explores the relationship between human and machine as an aesthetic dimension rather than as an engineering one.

"Videoplace" was conceived in 1969, simulated in 1970, and has been under continuous technical and aesthetic development ever since. It introduced the ideas of unencumbered virtual reality, full-body participation in interactive art, and the concept of a shared telecommunication space.

Ars Electronica awarded it the first Golden Nica in Interactive Art in 1990. It is also unusual for an art work in that it inspired a number of research projects in premier research labs around the world.

The goal of "Videoplace" was not to create an art work that happened to be interactive, but to raise interactivity itself to the level of an art medium. This required redefining the human interface so that the system perceived the movements of participants' bodies rather than receiving commands from them via traditional input devices. Upon enter the "Videoplace" installation, visitors are confronted with their own images projected into a simple graphic scene in which everthing that occurs is a response to their actions.

There are 20 different "Videoplace" interactions. One lets you play with a graphic creature Critter, the first interactive animated character. Others let you draw or paint with your fingers or your whole body. In one you play with graphic string. In another, you shoot with your finger. Some of the interactions offer visitors a new form of aesthetic play in which they are invited to create rather than to passively consume the work. These experiences define a new relationship between the action of the body and its consequences on perception.