Pinocchio - Die virtuelle Marionette


'Wolfgang Hilbert Wolfgang Hilbert

Pinocchio – die virtuelle Marionette is an interactive computer sculpture which enables the user to assume the role of a puppeteer and maneuver a virtual figure. Installation users actually operate a cross-shaped hand piece which controls the strings leading to a virtual figure located in a stage area. Through a process of experimentation, the user can discover how to precisely control the motions of the virtual marionette in real time by manipulating the hand piece. This seemingly absolute human control over a piece of technology, however, soon turns out to be a fallacy. After a certain amount of time has elapsed, the user comes to realize that the marionette has begun to act independently and no longer reacts to user commands. It breaks away from the user and disappears from the monitor screen. The spatial realm of virtual action breaks down to a black screen and thus completely dissolves. All that remains is the user – alone in real space, holding a manipulation device that has become useless. At some randomly-determined point in time, the marionette reappears on the edge of the monitor screen, steps forward and abdicates independent action. The user thus reassumes control over the marionette and the spatial realm of virtual action.