“BE NOW HERE (Welcome to the Neighborhood)” by Interval Research Corporation
Conference:
- SIGGRAPH 1996
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More from SIGGRAPH 1996:
Entry Number: 03
Title:
- BE NOW HERE (Welcome to the Neighborhood)
Program Title:
- Digital Bayou
Presenter(s):
Collaborator(s):
Project Affiliation:
- Interval Research Corporation
Description:
This installation is an immersive virtual environment about landscape and public gathering spaces. In part, it is a study contrasting the familiar with the foreign, over space and over time. In part, it is an attempt to re-awaken our sense, essence, and sanctity of place through place-scale media. And it is a simulation of what public media spaces could be like in the context of live, high-bandwidth global networking.
The installation consists of stereoscopic video projection on a large screen (with the same field of view as the cameras), four-channel surround audio, a simple input device (to choose location and time of day), and a 16-foot floor that rotates in sync with the imagery. The intention is to create the illusion that the image is rotating rather than the audience, and ultimately to act as a provocation to re-connect one’s sense of place to the ground.
The camera system deployed two 35mm motion picture cameras (for high spatial resolution) mounted side-by-side (for stereopsis) with wide-angle lenses (for immersion) and synchronized 60 frame-per- second motors (for high temporal resolution), which generated unrivaled fidelity. The system was mounted on a motor-driven tripod that rotated once per minute. The entire system weighed 500 pounds but was built for travel.
The camera gear, along with a pro-DAT audio recorder, went around the world to film public gathering places in the cities on UNESCO’s “Endangered List.” Of the 469 UNESCO- designated World Heritage Sites, 18 are further designated “in danger,” of which four are (or were) cities: Dubrovnik (Croatia), Timbuktu (Mali), Angkor (Cambodia), and Jerusalem (which UNESCO places in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan). Relying on local collaboration, a single spot was selected at each site from which to film several times throughout the course of a day.
Supported by
INTERVAL RESEARCH CORPORATION
Special thanks to
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE CENTRE
Produced for
CENTER FOR THE ARTS YERBA BUENA GARDENS
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