artintact 2

artintact 2
artintact is a combination of CD-ROM and brochure which the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe uses as a forum to present the work of te artists it supports. The CD-ROM permits the user to mix the contents in individual and interactive combinations. The second issue presents Luc Couchesne, Miroslav Rogala, Tamás Waliczky. Early 1994 a multimedia lab was established at the ZKM which amongst other activities is being used for the production of CD- ROMs. One of ist first projects is the interactive magazine artintact, produced in cooperation with the publishing company Hatje Cantz. Guest artists from the ZKM/Institute for the Visual Media have been invited to create works for this magazine of interactive art. The accompanying book contains essays by renowned media critics. In this way multimedia art and a conceptual discourse is being offered to a large public. The combination of CD-ROM/book makes it possible for the first time not only to issue an art documentation but also the interactive art works themselves. Interactive media art has developed rapidly in the last few years. Thus the problem of a commensurate presentation is a constantly relevant aspect both for the organizers and the museums. The works of art usually enable only one or, at best, a limited number of visitors to become "users" through interaction - a certain intimacy not afforded ina public spaceis requuisite. With "artintact" the ZKM endeavours to present interactive works of art in a totally new framwork. Released on the potential mass media CD-Rom, distributed via the book trade, each purchaser can communicate at his laisure by means of his home computer. The artists: Luc Couchesne (Can):Portrait One (1990/95)ì Portrait One affords an intimate - on screen - discussion between the (real) observer and a "slyly amicable girl" (Christoph Blase). Courchesne's interaction dialogue is fictional, as well possibilities (questions, answers, topice, viewpoints) have been specified ba the artist. The limits of interaction are defined by the pre- determined connection between the various possible discussion modes that can selected by the viewer. Miroslav Rogala (Pl/USA): Lovers Leap (1994/95) in cooperation with Ludger Hovestadt (12-D Design Environment) and Ford Oxaal (Mind's-eye-view perspective and software)ì The location - Lovers Leap - on the route from Chicago to Jamaica, with a military rader station at the very spot of tragic love provided the incentive for the project. Photographs of a busy street crossing in Chicago were processed with a specially developed software to create a totally novel perspective. The CD- ROM version of the interactive installation enables a continous 360 degree navigation in all direction within Chicago's alien citycape. Various speeeds of "travelling" are possible. On stopping, a random video sequence of Jamaicas appears. Movement in perspective is a mental structure that reflects leaps and free associations in the cogitory process. "Lovers Leap" affords new experiences on both levels. Tamás Waliczky (H/D): The Forest (1993/95)ì The work takes the viewer on a journey through the black and white foggy forest that stretches endlessly along x, y and z axis. Moandering within the forest is left to the discretion of the viewer - he will never find a way out. There is no starting point and no destination. There is no sky, no ground, no horizon. No facility exists, no sign, to find an orientation. Only the same trees, again and again - the "visual expression of an impasse".