Nina Wenhart's blog on the prehysteries of new media
"this blog is nina wenhart's collection of resources on the various histories of new media art. it consists mainly of non or very little edited material i found flaneuring on the net, sometimes with my own annotations and comments, sometimes it's also textparts i retyped from books that are out of print.
it is also meant to be an additional resource of information and recommended reading for my students of the prehystories of new media class that i teach at the school of the art institute of chicago in fall 2008.
the focus is on the time period from the beginning of the 20th century up to today."
(Nina Wenhart, 26/06/2008)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Body>Data>Space: Canary Wharf Waterfall
"Building Design Magazine (BD) has published an article by Elaine Knutt discussing the potential for telematic experiences to be constructed in public spaces by the use of interactive architectural surfaces. Telematics (tele-communication and informatics) broadly explores how communication has transformed our experience of social connectivity and new emergining patterns of communication and power structures.
Thanks to this article I was pleased to find out about a new group of artists and architects called bodydataspace ( b>d>s) created by Ghislaine Boddington and Armand Terruli who are exploring 'the integration of interactive and body-intuitive interfaces into public sites. Bodydataspace have proposed that Canary Wharf, London's tallest building 235m, have a giant projected waterfall cascading down its facade. The waterfall would not be a computer generated animation but a real-time projection of Angel Falls in Venezuela. the world's highest free-falling waterfall at 979m."
(Ruairi Glynn, Interactive Architecture dot Org)
CONTRIBUTOR
David RogersonSHARE
FuckU-FuckMe(tm) for Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT
"FuckU-FuckMe(tm) for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT provides the most complete remote sex solution for the Internet and corporate intranet. Powerful features let you sexually communicate with your remote partner and provide an absolutely realistic sensual experience of a real intercourse. The basic FuckU-FuckMe(tm) kit consists of two hardware units - genitalDrive(tm) model M (male) and genitalDrive(tm) model F (female) and an accompanying software interface.The genitalDrive is an internal device in a standard case that can be installed in any free 5.25" slot of your PC. The FuckU-FuckMe software connects your genitalDrive with a corresponding unit on a remote PC using TCP/IP protocol. When you start remote sexual intercourse with your partner using FuckU-FuckMe(tm) the system will transmit all your actions to his/her genitalDrive and precisely reproduce them in real time. The system has intuitive interface and allows you to entirely concentrate on remote communication."
(Alexei Shulgin, 2004, Media Art Net)
[Alexei Shulgin's tongue-in-cheek critique of our modern condition including pre-eminence of disposable consumption, dehumanisation and the affordances of cybernetic interaction via the Internet.]
CONTRIBUTOR
The Constellations ProjectSHARE
CyberSM: tactile communication/interaction
"The cyberSM project was an attempt to create a real time, visual, auditory, and tactile communication in the world of cyberspace. In the first cyberSM experiment, the user began to experience what others have only talked about for years: live, tactile communication through a computer environment. The CyberSM project expanded upon text based virtual environments, such as Minitel, MUDs, or most BBSs. It also takes the next logical step toward true telepresence by employing 3D graphics, live audio, and direct physical stimulation to allow participants to physically 'touch' each other over distances.The cyberSM project allows the establishment of trans_gender appearances, identities and entities by letting the participants choose their own visual appearance from a large databank of digitized human bodies. Once chosen, the participents send the image of their virtual self to the others on the network. The body thus becomes a visual fantasy.Central to the cyberSM project is the ability to transmit physical stimuli from one participant to the other. This is made possible through the use of stimulator suits connected over international telephone lines, which allow the users to remotely stimulate one-another's bodies. Not only does this physical element of communication allow the CyberSM project to more closely model inter-human communication, it creates a new form of interaction. Throughout the cyberSM connection, participants have a physical dialogue, but they remain anonymous the whole time."
(Ståhl Stenslie)
CONTRIBUTOR
The Constellations ProjectSHARE
Televirtual Fruit Machine
This interactive installation, similar to video games, was presented simultaneously at IC' 93 in Tokyo and Multimediale 3 at Karlsruhe, linked up by the digital ISDN network, the player in Tokyo could join up directly with a player at Karlsruhe. In order to bring together the two halves of the same object, the two players had to co-ordinate their movements and interactions visually, within the virtual space of the game.
The work centres-on a virtual 'fruit-machine' that is controlled by users communicating via a ISDN network.The fruit-machine metaphor references the Paradise parable.
CONTRIBUTOR
The Constellations ProjectSHARE
