TELEMATIC ENCOUNTER

DESCRIPTION   SCREEN SHOTS   QUICKTIME VIDEO
 
Two dispersed installations are connected via an ISDN teleconferencing link, enabling audio and video communication between the two sites. The first installation (location 1), the main gallery installation consists of a table and chair on a carpet surrounded by three monitors. A camera, suspended from at a 45 degree angle to the table from the ceiling, sends a live image of a person sitting at the table to the second installation (location 2), via the ISDN teleconferencing link. The image is received in location 2 and fed directly to a digital chroma-keyer. The installation in location 2 is identical (chair and table) to location 1, the camera is suspended in exactly the same way, and this image is also sent to the digital chroma-keyer. The two identical installation images are chroma-keyed together into the same image. The two dispersed users sitting at the separate tables sit at the same telepresent table.

The only difference between the two installations is that the table, carpet and back drop in location 2 are all painted chroma-key blue, only the chair and various draws - contained within the table, are wood in colour. This allows only these objects, and the user, to be keyed on top of the image from location 1. All the blue objects in location 2 appear as invisible in the final chroma keyed image.

Both tables contain draws around the top and on the legs. It is only possible to open certain draws in Location 1, the draws that are fixed correspond to the draws that can only be opened in location 2. The two users discover that they are able to open the draws and find certain props that allow a narrative structure to unfold. Some draws will contain music on opening, a bottle of wine, a glass, a candle, a table cloth, a knife, a letter, a gift and more. The scenario and its props will resemble the narrative structure of a silent movie melodrama - the fixed camera position, the exagerated gesture of expression and the experimental use of the teleconferencing media.