by Ana de Fátima Sousa, augusta 14th 2002
photos by Carol Lambert
On Wednesday’s (14) first floor, the symposium [art.ficial emotion] discussed the process of creating interfaces and immersing environments. All works and proposals presented mainly focus on inserting extremely human elements to generate interactivity, interest, and emotion. Without a human narrative, the virtual environment is only an empty space.
One of the hearty defenders of this line of thought is the artist Elizabeth Vander Zaag (Banff Center/Canada). “Why are soap operas so successful on TV? Because they show new stories daily, and always translate feelings like hatred, love, and surprise. Spectators mirror themselves on the stories and can entirely dive into the plot “, she explained. According to Zaag, it’s the same in cyberspace. “All and any work produced for men has to conquer them, give them the feeling of being able to interact with that world “.
Elizabeth Zaag is the creator of Talk Nice [which is in the exhibit on until October at Itaú Cultural] in which two girls chat with visitors. The piece works on the user’s voice modulation. Depending on vocal intonations, the girls “accept” spectators and establish a more friendly communication.
Another work presented by the Canadian was developed in 1990 and provides hints on how to speak softly to a man. A simple inexpensive piece that – says the creator – uses much healthier interactivity. That is, interactivity that brings interface and “friendly” narratives. You can check on here.
The German Joachim Sauter (ART+COM) presented a series of projects created at the institution he runs. One of the presentation’s most beautiful pieces was Time Traveller, in which the user can browse by landscape images or films shot in different times. One of the options is to take a panoramic look at a vast field in Berlin that, when overlaying the image of the past, goes back to the time in which the Berlin wall solidly stood out in the scenario and divided Germany in two.
If there are possible recipes for the use of this immersing multi-user environment, the also German Wolfgang Strauss (MARS) has one. According to him, there are five steps: 1 – user identifies the structure and rules; 2 – user plays with them (rules and structure) 3 – user reflects on how action takes place; 4 – users notices the presence of other participants; 5 – users try to communicate.
The Brazilian cyberspace was exposed in the lecture of Suzete Ventturelli (UnB). The professor presented her projects, which range from interfaces to multi-users to her recent research on the language of games, and also brought projects from other country artists such as André Parente, Gilbertto Prado, Diana Domingues, Rejane Cantoni, Daniela Kutschat and Tânia Fraga.
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- Elizabeth Vander Zaag
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- Joachim Sauter
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- Simpósio Emoção Art.ficial 14/8/02
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- Suzete Venturelli
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- Wolfgang Strauss
