2004.06.02 Helen Thorington
Looked at a piece called Dancing Beyond Boundaries done in 2001 between the Universities of Florida, Minneapolis, Campinas, Brazil and the SuperComputing Conference in Denver. Using the Access Grid and Internet2. It seemed to exploit technology in new ways but not explore virtual space as a stage, as over and against using a screen where a real-life stage is shown via film (video). Or: is this the perspective of the archivist?


2004.07.31 Michelle responds:
Immersive, Pervasive, Ubiquitous, Sentient. Chris Salter’s work with Sponge, though I’ve only read about it, is presented in a manner that makes me expect his group’s works would be enveloping, engaging, interactive - that this is a responsive environment. Experiential, versus presentational, which is what Helen references when she questions what is it to “explore virtual space as a stage”.

This raises interesting issues about space as both computer space and actual space now with tracking, compositing, GPS, sensors, that can interact in real-time via wireless networks. The space within the computer interacts with and responds to actions in physical space. We now simultaneously inhabit both.

GPS, like the internet, a military hand-me-down, is a double edged sword in terms of being both an enabler and a tracker, engaging the surveillance/ freedom issue. To use the technology one needs accuracy. The greater the accuracy the more information the less free the subject of the data. Who controls, accesses, data, the public air, space.