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Videoplace
'Myron W. Krueger
Myron W. Krueger
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'Katrin Hinrichsen
Katrin Hinrichsen
Videoplace explores the relationship between human and machine as an aesthetic dimension rather than as an engineering problem. It 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.
I Met-a-Morph I Met-a-Morph is an extension of the Videoplacesystem into three dimensions. As in Videoplace, the participant interacts with a image that is projected on a large projection screen in front of him. The movements of his body control a solid shape that changes as he moves. Several interactions are defined in this format. The transition from one to another is controlled by briefly stepping away from the screen and re-entering.
The intent is to give visitors a new reason to move their bodies—to create art. When doing so, they tend to forget how their behavior looks in the real world and focus instead on discovering how their body effects what they see and later on using their body to implement their aesthetic intentions. At its best, the experience is like an interactive form of meditation.
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