Citycluster
From the Renaissance to the Age of Megabyte Networkings

2003

Franz Fischnaller (IT)
Alex Hill
F.A.B.R.I.CATORS (IT)
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (US)

This CAVE application allows creative users to become protagonists within and/or free citizens of a city, to navigate, interact and intervene in it, to switch architectural layouts, structures, and concepts, and to create their own idealized urban environment.

“From the Renaissance to the Age of Megabyte Networkings” takes visitors on a fascinating interactive journey from the Renaissance to the super-broadband networking of the Electronic Age, a journey that breaks down the boundaries between time and space in real time. Here, Florence stands metaphorically for the time of the Renaissance, and gigabit networking is represented by Chicago. In each virtual city, there lives a group of avatars—David, Venus and Machiavelli in Florence, Mega, Giga and Picasso in Chicago.

“Citycluster” provides this journey’s technical foundation—a virtual network matrix in which multiple environments or cities can be installed, juxtaposed, and interrelated. The basis for this is a shared virtual terrain linked up via high-speed network; this enables users at separate locations to interact, collaborate and share one and the same environment. This framework can be expanded, modified and developed further depending on the nature of the environment that is to be linked up with it.

A VR networking interface—a VR pathfinder named Meta-Net-Page—was designed expressly for “Citycluster” and serves as the users’ most important tool for interaction. Passive and active stereoscopic glasses make three-dimensional surfing possible; “the wand” consisting of a joystick equipped with three buttons enables the user to surf through the space of Virtual Reality, maneuver virtual objects, and interact with other users.