Myron Krueger
VIDEOPLACE
(USA)
"SMALL PLANET"
versión en español
Small Planet is an unencumbered virtual reality installation with two interconnected stations.
The Small Planet environment reduces the Earth to a scale that can be circumnavigated very quickly. Participants, in both stations, stand in front of a large projection screen depicting a realistic 3-D terrain. The projection screen is the portal into that world. Participants can move through that terrain by pretending to fly exactly as a child would: spreading their arms and leaning in the direction that they want to fly. In addition, they can control their altitude by lifting or lowering the arms. When the participants descend to the ground, they do not crash through it as they would in most virtual reality systems, but rather move along the surface. Participants from both stations are represented in the same virtual world and can interact with each other.
Equipment used: Videoplaces system, two supercomputers from Digital Equipment Corporation, two Kubota accelerators, ethernet connection, digital projectors.
Myron Krueger is the first artist who focused on interactivity as a medium for artistic creation. He's a pioneer of unencumbered virtual reality systems and in 1973 coined the term "artificial reality". He has received numerous awards including Ars Electronica's first Golden Nica. His work has been shown worldwide in art museums, galleries and scientific conferences.
