V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media

As part of the ‘Better than Reality’ project V2_Lab will host an artist in residence focusing on 3D and various other visual aspects within the topic of Augmented Reality environments. This residency will take place in the summer of 2008.

General info: Print version: http://files.v2.nl/portal/V2_CfP_Better_than_Reality.pdf
Application form: http://files.v2.nl/portal/Application_Form_Better_than_Reality-1.pdf

Background & Past Research:
During the past years V2_Lab has been working on a number of aRt&D projects that involve Augmented Reality. The most recent project involved a collaboration with artist Marnix de Nijs (NL) that resulted in the first public user test of a project called Exercise in Immersion 4 during the Dutch Electronic Art Festival 2007 (DEAF07).

Augmented Reality is an umbrella term for a range of techniques that make it possible to add virtual elements to the physical world; for example, overlayed visuals or spatialised sounds. The technologies needed to create Augmented Reality environments are, however, still very experimental and therefore often inaccessible to artists. To enable more artists to create augmented reality artworks, V2_Lab has developed a software/hardware platform called VGE (V2_ Game Engine), that is based on Ogre3D, OpenAL, Blender, ultrasound positioning and SIOS (Sensor Input/Output System). The latter was also developed at V2_Lab.

In VGE, the user wears a set of stereo video displays that show a mix of 3D visuals and real world video that is received from a head mounted stereo camera. The position in space and orientation of the head are tracked. Additionally, the geometry of the real space is modelled in the virtual space. The tracking makes it possible to fix the virtual world relative to the real world. For example, a virtual object can disappear behind a real wall.

The aim of V2_Lab is to extend VGE into an accessible authoring environment for Augmented Reality environments.

The Project:
The ‘Better than Reality’ project comprises a series of three residencies focused on Augmented Reality. Within each residency a specific artistic aspect of Augmented Reality will be researched, leading to part of an augmented reality installation. The topic for this residency is 3D and visual aspects of Augmented Reality experiences; adding virtual objects to a real environment.

The topics for the other two residencies (with pre-selected artists) in the ‘Better than Reality’ project are:
• Spatial audio, Boris Debackere (BE)
• User experience/immersion, Marnix de Nijs (NL)

Within ‘Better than Reality’ we encourage artistic experiments and knowledge exchange, multidisciplinary collaboration and public user testing. While each residency covers a specific, the overarching and shared goal is to reach a deeper understanding of artistic possibilities of Augmented Reality environments. In addition to a shared technical foundation, we expect a continuous collaboration, and knowledge exchange, between the artists involved. Moreover, as the project will include collective work, the residencies will partially overlap in time.

The three residencies will be concluded with a public presentation; a large scale informal user test for artistic Augmented Reality experiments of all three sub-projects. Additional to the presentation, the dissemination of the knowledge to other artists and art students in workshops and lectures, as well as a symposium is another major goal of the overall project.

The Residency:
We invite an artist to explore the 3D and visual aspects of Augmented Reality. We are eager to collaborate with an experienced artist on the visual aspects of VGE, focusing on creating a visually convincing experience. Specific attention will be directed towards using techniques that make virtual objects appear ‘as if they belong’ in the real world environment. For example: Lighting; blending and mixing, specifically at the borders of real and virtual; and (simulated) physical interaction between the virtual and real world.

The other artists involved in the project have set part of the boundaries of this residence with their plans, and vice versa, the
objectives for this residency will influence the boundaries of their work. The plans of the other residencies are available upon request.

This residency is intended for an in-depth exploration of 3D and visual aspects of Augmented Reality, which is why we require the artist to have an excellent working knowledge of the following techniques: 3D modelling, real-time 3D and texturing (e.g. shading, light mapping, photo mapping and texture baking). Experience in computer generated animation, physics modeling, and Blender is desired.

The required activities of the residency include:
• a preparatory meeting with the VGE developers at V2_Lab and the other artists involved (teleconference is possible);
• at least one month of work at V2_Lab, Rotterdam, between July 1 and August 31, 2008;
• active participation as expert, or workshop leader, for dissemination activities (workshops, lectures, etc.) in the fall of 2008; and
• personal contribution to the final presentation and symposium.

V2_Lab offers:
• extensive support by the VGE developers at V2_Lab;
• an artist fee up to € 4500,- in total, depending on the exact activities;
• lodging for the time spent in Rotterdam; and
• travel to/from Rotterdam, up to € 250,- in total.

Any queries related to this residency call should be directed to Jan Misker, jan@v2.nl, +31 (0)10-2067273.

The deadline for proposals, is May 22, 2008, 12:00 p.m. CET (noon). (No extensions possible.) The selected artist will be contacted at the latest June 6, 2008.

Showings must be strictly limited to six people per session, so we ask that you get back to us at this email address — cayley at shadoof dot net –with your first and second choice of a preferred session. These spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis and we apologize in advance if we are unable to accommodate you.

Wednesday, May 14
- Session 1: 6:30-7:10
- Session 2: 7:10-7:50
- Session 3: 7:50-8:30

Thursday, May 15
- Session 1: 6:30-7:10
- Session 2: 7:10-7:50
- Session 3: 7:50-8:30

Friday, May 16
- Session 1: 6:30-7:10
- Session 2: 7:10-7:50
- Session 3: 7:50-8:30

By Monday, May 12, there will be a program with some details of the pieces to be shown accessible on the Writing Digital Media website: http://writingdigitalmedia.org

Please also visit the CCV website: http://www.ccv.brown.edu/

With thanks to Prof. Jan Hesthaven (CCV Director), Prof. Clyde Briant (Vice President of Research), Sharon King, Sam Fulcomer, everyone else associated with CCV and the Cave, and special thanks to CCV’s John Huffman.

The advances in computer entertainment, multi-player /online gaming, technology-enabled art, culture and performance have created new forms of entertainment that attract, immerse and absorb their participants. The phenomenal success of such a “culture” to initiate a mass audience in patterns and practices of its own consumption has supported the evolution of an enormously powerful mass entertainment, digital art and performance industry extending deeply into every aspect of our lives, leading further to major societal and business contacting changes.

The International Conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts (DIMEA), in cooperation with ACM, is the premier forum for the presentation of societal, business and technological advances and research results in cross-disciplinary areas related with digital interactive media in entertainment, art and creative technologies. This conference is dedicated to build common ground between research, design and development, learning and collaboration in its myriad digital media forms: one of its many objectives is the exploration of ‘play & learn’, demonstrating new arenas and applications for digital gaming and incorporating leading edge technologies, designs and models in our changing views about what is involved in gaming.

DIMEA 2008 is jointly organized by Athens Information Technology (AIT), ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI, Singapore Chapter) and the Society for Excellence and Innovation in Interactive Experience Design (InExDe).

DIMEA 2008 will bring together academics, technologists, artists, designers, and industry representatives to address and advance the leading edge of new digital and interactive media.

Who should attend:

Academics, Animators, Artists, Designers, Developers, Educators, Engineers, Game Designers, Industry Professionals, Media Industry, Video Producers, Directors, Writers, Performers, Photographers, Videographers, Researchers, Students. Anyone who wants to be inspired to adopt advanced ways in industry, society, business, research and teaching, expand their knowledge on a wide variety of topics within the field of digital media, network with cross-disciplinary experts from digital media professionals to academic experts, and evolve with this ever-changing field!

DIMEA 2008 is one of the few conferences that combines full technical papers as well as artwork / game / demo submissions, to accommodate, after evaluation and selection, both technical oral sessions as well as artwork / game / demo exhibition sessions. For each one of the two tracks of the conference further information is separately provided below.

Technical Conference Track: The following, non exclusive, topics are called for:

Entertainment, Art and Technology - Location-based and Pervasive Gaming, Mobile Entertainment, Digital Games in Practice, Computer Entertainment Research, Open-Source Gaming Engines, Implications for Multimedia and Web Design, Artistic Games, Commercial Games, Edutainment, Educational/Serious Games, Interactive Games, Games as Pedagogy, Analysis of Games, e-Performance (e-Opera,e-Theatre, e-Concert, …), Virtual Exhibitions and Museums

New Media Emerging Technologies - Personal Broadcasting (Podcasting and Vlogging), Novel Applications for Mobile Phones, Social and Interactive Computing Applications, Collaborative Spaces/Environments, Innovative Applications of Technology in the Arts, Mixed Reality and Enhanced Visualization, Context-aware Environments and Devices, Immersive Learning Experiences, Communication Technologies and Systems for Digital Media, Advanced Authoring and Composition of Media, Advanced Interaction, Targeted/Personalized Media, Adaptable Media and AI

Code Art - Algorithmic Art, Software Art, Net Art, Installation Art, Tangible Computing, Sonic Art

Digital Visual and Auditory Media - Digital Photography, Digital Imaging as Art, Advances in 3D Modelling, Digital Printing, Non-Photorealistic Rendering, Digital Sound and Music, Digital Music Synthesis and Composition, Graphics and Animations, Digital Comics

Moving Media - Digital Video, Distance Collaboration/Performance, Computer Animation, Interactive Movies

Culture of New Media - Network Culture, Philosophy of New Media, Digital Identity

Interactive Stories - Digital Narrative, Digital Asset Management, Semantic Web Technologies, Interactive Television and Cinema, Game Design and Storytelling

Full Paper Submissions: Prospective authors are invited to submit full technical papers of not more than 8 pages, including tables, figures and references at the conference online paper submission system. Prospective authors should adhere to the conference full paper submission guidelines. Full Papers should present original research related to the above mentioned scientific areas, not published elsewhere. Please refer to the conference Web site for detailed submission guidelines. Full papers will be peer-reviewed by at least three reviewers from the International Technical Program Committee in a single-blind process, judging on their relevance, novelty and technical quality.

Art Work / Game / Demo Exhibition Conference Track: DIMEA 2008, with the participation of the MEDIATERRA FESTIVAL, aims to offer the opportunity to artists, independent creators, multimedia authors, programmers and theorists to exhibit their digital interactive rich-media works in art and entertainment, and at the same time to create a forum of communication, discussion and collaboration on advances in the already deployed practices.

We cordially invite artists, creators, designers, game developers, generally practitioners working with digital interactive media to submit their original contributions to the DIMEA2008 Artworks / Games / Demos exhibition track, in the context of the following five DIMEA 2008 subject art-related areas:

Entertainment, Education, Art and Technology: Location-based and Pervasive Gaming, Mobile Entertainment, Digital Games in Practice, Computer Entertainment Research, Open-Source Gaming Engines, Implications for Multimedia and Web Design, Artistic Games, Edutainment, Educational/Serious Games, Interactive Games, Games as Pedagogy, e-Performance (e-Opera, e-Theatre, e-Concert, …), Virtual Exhibitions and Museums

New Media Emerging Technologies - Personal Broadcasting (Podcasting and Vlogging), Novel Applications for Mobile Phones, Social and Interactive Computing Applications, Collaborative Spaces/Environments, Innovative Applications of Technology in the Arts, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality and Enhanced Visualization, Context-aware Environments and Devices, Immersive Learning Experiences, Communication Technologies and Systems for Digital Media, Advanced Authoring and Composition of Media, Advanced Interaction, Targeted/Personalized Media, Adaptable Media and AI, Semantic Web Technologies, Digital Identity

Code Art - Algorithmic Art, Software Art, Net Art, Installation Art, Tangible Computing, Sonic Art, Artificial Entities

Digital Visual and Moving Media - Computer Animation, Interactive Movies, Advances in 3D Modeling, Semantic-based Approaches, Real-time 3D

Interactive Media - Digital Narrative, Interactive Television and Cinema, Interactive Drama, Interactive Storytelling

Memetics is a neo-Darwinian approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer based on the concept of the “meme”. Started from a metaphor used in Richard Dawkins popular writings, it has later turned into an approach in the study of self-replicating units of culture. In The Selfish Gene (1976) Dawkins used the term “meme” to describe a unit of human cultural transmission analogous to the gene, arguing that replication also happens in culture. It is a pattern that can influence its surroundings” “it has causal agency” and can propagate.

Based on this concept Hocking developed a game prototype where the characters “shout” at each other “expelling” words as if they were fire breathing. This work uses interactive 3D graphics and a recombinant narrative system, with touch-screen interaction. When a character is hit by a words’ stream, he incorporates those words in his database of ideas. So characters will start to say similar things, and they’ll evolve till the entire community will end up saying the same things. “When the simulation detects that this endpoint has been reached, the screen fades to black and everything starts over from a random distribution of ideas, repeating the process of the society’s homogenization” Hocking says.

What’s missing here is the definition of memes as variance. Indeed memes are information copied with variation and selection. Because only some of the variants survive, memes (and so human cultures) evolve. Memes are copied by mimicry, and they compete for space in our memory and for the vital chance to be copied again. Since the process of social learning is different for each person, the mimicry process can’t be an accurate reproduction. The same idea may be expressed with different memes supporting it. So the mutation rate in memetic evolution is extremely high, and mutations are even possible within each and every interaction of the imitation process. This is why Memetic Simulation no. 2 is more likely a metaphor for mass communication aggressive behaviors then a metaphor of the society’s coalescence. More properly it’s a “shout them up” game. - Valentina Culatti, Neural.

How do we read a text that removes the stabilizing spatial coordinates of the page and no longer maintains a top-centric and left-centric orientation? How do we read texts that do not simply simulate dimension but in fact materialize and operate on the z-axis? Here, Ender’s Game is suggestive: what Ender Wiggin has to learn about the null-gravity Battle Room is that it requires a fundamental reorientation of spatial perspective. Indeed, the players’ successful navigation and battle victories depend on their capacity to adapt to a space with a different spatial logic. So, too, a three-dimensional text – whether it be presented in the immersive reading environment of a Cave, a game space, a QuickTime video, or a Javascript poem – requires an adaptive flexibility that we might even call a new mode of reading, a “deep reading.”

My thinking about the theme of this issue – Writing.3D – did not begin with a consideration of video installations or gaming spaces, as one would perhaps initially expect, but with a consideration of a set of works that gestured toward the realization of three dimensions within the space of a poetic text. In David Knoebel’s Java series, Click Poetry: Words in Space (2001), for example, “Oh” creates the illusion of sphericality; the words in “Walkdont” spin on the subsidiary axes of an invisible mobile; and “A Fine View” reproduces the cinematic illusion of 3D by miming the roll-out of the prologue to Star Wars. Ted Warnell’s “Codepoetry” brings the suggestion of depth and three dimensionality to the fore with its intricate embedding of a symbolic z-axis within the work. The frame of the visual poem appears as the single face of a cube, each letter of the words “code poetry” laid out along invisible gridlines and marked with a coordinate. Not only do the letters themselves take the form of a “z,” but graphing the coordinates themselves reveals the form of another “z.”

In this special issue of TIR Web we will see a collection of texts in which three dimensionality is suggested and some in which it is actually realized….” Continue reading Editor’s Introduction: Writing.3D by Rita Raley, The Iowa Review - Web.

Socrates: What a lucky morning this is turning out to be! I was looking for one virtue and have found a whole swarm of them. — Plato, Meno

In September 2007, the Australia Council for the Arts announced the recipients of its $20,000 artists residency in the 3-D online virtual world of Second Life. Dodds, Nash, and Clemens were awarded the grant to develop an inter-disciplinary artwork which explores the possibilities of literary, music / sound art and real-time 3-D arts practices within the virtual world. The artwork is a simultaneous installation in Second Life and in a real world gallery, where gallery visitors can be directly involved in its creation via a computer interface.

[Image: left to right: Adam Nash (aka Adam Ramona), Christopher Dodds (aka Mashup Islander), and Justin Clemens (aka S1 Gausman)]

BabelSwarm, a metaphor for the Tower of Babel, uses voice recognition software that converts the spoken word of real and virtual world participants into 3-D letterform images in an evolving tower of words. The letterforms generate relationships with each other through a combination of visual and sonic manifestations, fragments of narrative, environmental / user awareness capabilities and through interaction with existing data generated within Second Life itself such as the virtual winds, sunrises and sunsets. According to Justin Clemens, Second Life is an already burgeoning platform for today’s art. ‘Every era has a form that exemplifies it: in Shakespeare’s time, it was the theatre; today, it’s Second Life. It’s a question of trying to meet the new challenges of a new time - and the new spaces that it generates, ”Second Life epitomises the innovations of contemporary technology and culture: an entirely virtual world that has entirely real effects,” Justin said.

According to artist Christopher Dodds, Second Life is a step in the right direction for Australia contemporary arts practice. “It is encouraging to see the Australia Council recognising virtual worlds as legitimate environments for artistic practice, and while we thought our idea was solid, we knew the grant would receive a lot of attention and some pretty spectacular applications,” Christopher said.

Read more here [PDF] and here.

To gain access to Babelswarm you need to register an avatar name, download the Second Life application software, and then log-in to see the virtual world. This can be done in three easy steps:
1. Go to http://secondlife.com/ and follow the “Get Started” link. This will allow you to register an avatar name, download the application and then log into Second Life.
2. New users go to an instructional island where they can learn to walk, fly talk etc.
3. When ready, click on (or paste into a web browser) the following link: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ACVA/119/180/295/ Follow the instructions and your avatar will arrive in the Babelswarm foyer.

Read Bettina Tizzy’s interview with Adam Nash here.

Think virtually. Buy locally. Invisible Threads - a virtual sweatshop - will be operating live from Second Life and Eyebeam as part of the Synthetic Times Beijing Media Arts Symposium closing reception. The mixed reality performance explores the politics of virtual labor through the creation of a designer jeans sweatshop in the online, 3-dimensional world of Second Life. Simulating a real life manufacturing facility that includes hiring Second Life workers to produce real world jeans sold for profit, the project provides an insiders view into current modes of global, telematic production.

During the evening visitors will be able to order a pair of Double Happiness Jeans through the factory’s just-in-time telematic manufacturing process. Customers in the real world place their jean orders to the workers in the virtual factory via streaming audio and video. The workers, avatars controlled by humans sitting at computers around the globe, operate textile machines on an assembly line that produce the jeans. Styles include “MyPants”, “No Pants Left Behind” and the “LowRider”. Video.

Cantata Park explores the notion of a “cut-up narrative”. By disassembling and reassembling a passage of text, the participant is free to extract unseen meaning from an existing text. The cut-up technique was popularised by Beat poets in the 1950’s-70’s as a method to “break the linearity” of written language, with William S. Burroughs using it extensively in his works. Burroughs believed non-pictorial languages contained a virus. By using non-linear writing techniques he believed the true meaning of language could be exposed, and the spoken word used as a weapon.

Cantata Park uses a passage of 256 words from Burroughs’ The Electronic Revolution (1971) and transfers the cut-up technique into a real-time 3D environment.

The work explores the possibilities of metaverse art, limitations of Second Life’s construction tools and scripting language, and the ability to appreciate conceptual art by proxy of an avatar.

Likewise, humans have long sought escape from the physical world through both stories and invention, creating “imaginary objects”, which embody the tension between the ideal and the real. These shared cultural artifacts surface in mythology (Holy Grail, Trojan Horse), literature (Tell-Tale Heart), film (Maltese Falcon), thought experiments (Schrodinger’s Cat) and impossible inventions (Time Machine). Second Life, an online social environment, offers similar possibilities of the imaginary. With 3D-simulated space combined with a virtual currency and social interaction, this is a fully functioning economy of the immaterial.

NO MATTER reflects this tension between the imaginary and real economics by (1) commissioning 25 builders and artists to produce 40 cultural artifacts in Second Life space; (2) paying them in Linden dollars at an equivalent scale of $1.50 to $12.00 per object; (3) extracting the objects from Second Life — a closed system where 3D models cannot be exported; (4) inviting volunteers to reconstruct these as 3D paper replicas in physical space and paying them the equivalent wages in Linden dollars.

NO MATTER is a 2007 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Mixed Realities exhibition. It was made possible with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Teleport to the Ars Virtua Gallery in Second Life.

BIOGRAPHIES

Scott Kildall is cross-disciplinary artist working with video, installation, prints, sculpture and performance. He gathers material from the public realm as the crux of his artwork. Through this method, he uncovers relationships between human memory and social media technology. He has a B.A. in Political Philosophy from Brown University. In 2006, he received a M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago through the Art & Technology Studies Department. He has exhibited in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Helsinki, Ireland, Spain and Romania. In the fall of 2006, he finished a conceptual art residency called The Future of Idea Art at The Banff Centre for the Arts. He followed this with a six-month fellowship at the Kala Art Institute focusing on remembrance in simulated worlds. He also works with Second Front — the first performance art group in Second Life. He currently resides in San Francisco.

Victoria Scott is a visual artist who works with electronic media, sculpture and social relations, both materially and as conceptual metaphor. For over a decade she has researched and created large-scale installations, objects, digital prints and audio works. Her ongoing projects include the material depiction of personal simulations and psychological spaces within online environments and real life. She is also developing a series of batteries that are charged by emotional energy and microorganisms. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Victoria graduated from the New Media/Photo Electric Arts Dept., at The Ontario College of Art & Design. In 2003, she was awarded the full Trustees Scholarship to attend at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago within the Art and Technology Department. Scott completed her MFA in 2005. She has exhibited in Sweden, Mexico City, Toronto, Berlin, Boston, Miami and Chicago and is the recipient of grants from both the Canada and Ontario Arts Councils.

Imaging Beijing is a 2007 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Mixed Realities exhibition. It was made possible with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Teleport to Imaging Beijing in Second Life.

BIOGRAPHY

John Craig Freeman’s work has been exhibited internationally including at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, the Kunstraum Walcheturm in Zurich, Eyebeam in New York, City, the Zacheta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki (the national gallery of Warsaw), Kaliningrad Branch of the National Center for Contemporary Arts in Russia, Art Basel Miami, Ciberart Bilbao and the Girona Video and Digital Arts Festival in Spain, La Biblioteca National in Havana, the Contemporary Art Center in Atlanta, the Nickle Arts Museum in Calgary, the Center for Experimental and Perceptual Art (CEPA) in Buffalo, Art interactive, Mobius and Studio Soto in Boston, the Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City, Ambrosino Gallery in Miami, the Photographers Gallery in London, and the Friends of Photography’s Ansel Adams Center in San Francisco.

In 1992 Freeman was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His writing has been published in Leonardo, the Journal of Visual Culture, and Exposure, as well as a chapter in the book Electronic Collaboration in the Humanities. His work has been reviewed in Wired News, Artforum, Ten-8, Z Magazine, Afterimage, Photo Metro, New Art Examiner, Time, Harper’s and Der Spiegel. Lucy Lippard cites Freeman’s work in her book The Lure of the Local, as does Margot Lovejoy in her book Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age.

Freeman received a Bachelor of Art degree from the University of California, San Diego in 1986 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1990. He is an Associate Professor of New Media at Emerson College in Boston. The focus of his academic activities throughout the last decade has been to integrate computer technology and theory of electronic culture into visual art curriculum and to explore interdisciplinary approaches to education and technology.