Predictable and Non Predictable Patterns

“TAMPOPO is Japanese for dandelion, and in Japan, as is in New Zealand, dandelions occupy a sphere of folklore. A simple action of blowing creates a space amongst the bustle of human doings, it creates a direct relationship with nature, and it acts as a trigger of memories and nostalgic journeys. Perhaps it triggers memories of wishes made and long since forgotten.

The subject in TAMPOPO is a giant looming dandelion, an interactive digital work that lets you blow on the head of the dandelion and watch its spores gently drift away. Yamada is interested in creativity in computer programming, and how creative code has opened up new possibilities for new worlds. He creates environments using computer-programming techniques, and generates a simulation of the natural environment in a digital realm. Yamada sees programming as a structure that is not the antithesis of nature, but also as a responsive environment in itself. Both the programming environment and the natural environment are full of conditions and variables, of predictable and non predictable patterns.” Continue reading

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Zones Light Up via Electronic Caresses

“What is cyberspace? Like most important questions, the answer depends very much on whom you ask. Cyberspace seems to be highly mutable; it wears different guises for divergent questioners, depending very much on what type of glasses they are wearing. And the computer certainly qualifies as a strange kind of mirror — the more deeply they scry its virtual depths, the more enthralled many theorists become by its digitized mutual gaze. So vast is the quantity of information available on the Internet that attempts to master the big picture cannot help but become highly self-selecting. Yet most can agree that one of the standout characteristics of the new digital paradigm which fascinates theorists and practitioners alike is its apparent revolutionary character, its fundamental newness…”

“The aesthetics which I propose can aid us to see something fresh are an ‘aesthetics of play and empathy.’ These terms have longstanding associations in a psychoanalytic context, as well as in other cultural contexts including art history, Buddhist studies, feminism and the post-colonial, among others.” From Building a Bridge to the Aesthetic Experience: Artistic Virtual Environments
and Other Interactive Digital Art by Tobey Crockett, , Vol 5 No 1. Continue reading

Aesthetics of Play and Empathy

“What is cyberspace? Like most important questions, the answer depends very much on whom you ask. Cyberspace seems to be highly mutable; it wears different guises for divergent questioners, depending very much on what type of glasses they are wearing. And the computer certainly qualifies as a strange kind of mirror — the more deeply they scry its virtual depths, the more enthralled many theorists become by its digitized mutual gaze. So vast is the quantity of information available on the Internet that attempts to master the big picture cannot help but become highly self-selecting. Yet most can agree that one of the standout characteristics of the new digital paradigm which fascinates theorists and practitioners alike is its apparent revolutionary character, its fundamental newness…”

“The aesthetics which I propose can aid us to see something fresh are an ‘aesthetics of play and empathy.’ These terms have longstanding associations in a psychoanalytic context, as well as in other cultural contexts including art history, Buddhist studies, feminism and the post-colonial, among others.” From Building a Bridge to the Aesthetic Experience: Artistic Virtual Environments and Other Interactive Digital Art by Tobey Crockett, Intelligent Agent, Vol 5 No 1. Continue reading

Heightening Tension and Drama in 3D Interactive Environments

“Abstract: Heightening tension and drama in 3D interactive environments is a hard, but important problem. It is important for its potential utility in increasing motivation, involvement, engagement, and providing an overall pleasing aesthetic experience. These constructs are not only useful for entertainment applications, but can also impact training and edutainment applications due to the impact of emotions on learning. To stimulate emotional engagement, many researchers have explored several techniques, including enhancing the story content, developing new algorithms for dynamically creating stunning visual effects, and enhancing 3D sound. In this paper, I describe a set of new design techniques based on a study of film and theatre theories, including acting and screenwriting. These design techniques are integrated within a multi-agent interactive drama architecture. In this paper, I will discuss this architecture elaborating on the implementation of the theories studied and discussed from film and performance arts.” Applying Principles from Performance Arts for an Interactive Aesthetic Experience by Magy Seif El-Nasr, Intelligent Agent, Vol 5 No 1. Continue reading

Zones Light Up via Electronic Caresses

Interesting concept of wearable gaming device. TechnoLust blends technological lust with a program to reawaken carnal lust. The gaming device takes advantage of wireless Internet technology. Players wear it as an undergarment to travel out of the virtual world of the computer to find and play with opponents

TecnoLust is a game of body erotic zones that are lit up by electric caresses. Upon entering the game players select the mode they want to play within, this sends out a frequency which attracts other players set on the same game and frequency. When a participant encounters another a game of electronic caresses begins where pulses are sent back and forth electronically to arouse the senses. Designed in 2002 by Peter Allen and Carla Murray, KnoWear. [blogged by Regine on we-make-money-not] Continue reading

GPS Racing on your Mobile Phone

Paul has updated his list of mobile phone games using GPS or cell towers signals. Here’s one of the latest additions: With RealReplay, you can choose the track you want to race on, select your opponent and start playing with everyone, without being dependent on their time.

Whether you’re in a car, on a bike, or a sailing boat, all you have to do is tell your mobile phone to start recording. The phone will capture your every movement using GPS. Set checkpoints to define the key parts of your track. Your future opponents will have to pass them and get information on their intermediate time. Continue reading

Call For Papers: IS - Internet e Storia (Internet and History)

Call For Papers: IS - Internet e Storia (Internet and History) 4th Forum 15 January - 15 March 2006.

The topics for the 4th telematic forum are Internet, History and all subjects related to the application of multimedia technology to History and, in general to Human Studies. Each speaker presents an abstract through the specifically prepared mailing-list. Essays will be placed on the official site, which could be consulted by signed members. Acts will be published in «Storiadelmondo» ISSN 1721-0216, public access electronic journal dealing with world-wide History and Human Studies. Papers will be published also in CD-ROM edition. Continue reading

Arena for Experiments

The Port is a place, a community and an arena for experiments. It is a 16-acre virtual island located inside the online world Second Life. The island is a 3d-model, collaboratively shaped by its users. The Port is open and accessible to all Second Life inhabitants and potentially to all internet users. Regarding The Port as a piece of land renews questions of spatiality in an online context.

Members of The Port Community belong to an international network of artists, architects, thinkers, researchers and programmers collaboratively exploring (1) the notion of value-creation in an online environment, (2) the nature of immaterial production and ownership, (3) the interlacing of an online and off-line reality, (4) possibilities for virtual worlds to function as public space and (5) the concept of communality in a trans-local sphere.

Projects already initiated include developing new musical instruments, an expanded white board for discussions, architectural structures and a garden, an alternative currency with backing in virtual land as well as continually producing in-world TV reports and staging live music and dance performances. Continue reading

Highlighting the Materiality of the Immaterial

Objects of Virtual Desire explores immaterial production in a virtual world, and if and how this can be transferred into an economy of material production. We have collected a series of objects produced and owned by inhabitants in the online world Second Life and will sell physical reproductions of these objects via our web shop.

Each chosen object has a strong sentimental value for the avatar (a persons virtual identity) who made or owned it. We have acquired (copies of) these objects, along with their ownerÂ’s personal story, within the in-world economy of Second Life. At www.objectsofvirtualdesire.com we present 3D modeled reproductions of these objects. The objects are made available in physical form on demand. When buying the materialised object one will also receive an image of the immaterial object with its original Second Life owner. Continue reading

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

We invite you to contribute to Flack Attack, a new magazine coming out of The Port, a community-driven space initiated by Sim on Goldin & Jakob Senneby inside the online 3D world Second Life (http://secondlife.com/). The production process of Flack Attack will be continually featured on artport, the Whitney Museum’s portal to Internet Art, as a gate page during the month of December 2005. Using The Port as a point of departure we are pursuing a series of investigations into the potential of networked public spheres and the organization of participatory production.

Production: The production model of Flack Attack magazine is based on the wiki concept and the workflow starts with the set-up of the wiki.

Theme: The theme of the first issue is “Flack Attack on Autonomy”: Autonomy as a complex concept in any governed situation. What does it mean to be autonomous within predefined social codes? Does the notion of autonomy contradict a common language and shared references? Continue reading