PEACE TALKS - Commissioned by West Midlands Arts and
FACT Liverpool
For BitParts - Commissioned projects in digital media
across the West Midlands region, February - April 2003
By
Paul Sermon - http://www.paulsermon.org
PEACE TALKS -
SYNOPSIS
Whilst this installation, entitled Peace Talks, relies on
similar principles used in my previous telematic works, it is due to recent
technical developments in head mounted display systems that I am now able to
produce a far greater degree of total telepresent immersion in this new
installation. In combination with Internet based broadband videoconferencing
advancements I also have the means to link this installation over geographic
distances with far greater ease, and less expense via the net. The technical
advancements aside, I have chosen to concentrate on a specific theme, and
potential political and social purpose for this installation. Whilst this
installation provokes a critique of the so called Òpeace talks processÓ and its
methods, it also seriously offers a viable and practical alternative to it. As
is often the case in telematic installations, the users become amused by
themselves in this displaced telepresent context. However, when placed in front
of this politically charged backdrop it serves to ridicule the absurdity of a
peace talk charade, simultaneously offering a tongue in cheek, yet very viable
alternative.
PEACE TALKS - A COMBINATION OF MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES
- The
Ames room experiment, an optical illusion creating a distorted reality.
- Head
mounted video displays, resulting in complete telepresent immersion.
- 3D texture
mapped computer game environment simulating a UN negotiation.
PEACE TALKS -
CONCEPT
Peace Talks functions by linking two remote gallery locations
together via the Internet. Users located in identical installation situations
are chroma-keyed together into the same telematic space. In this particular
installation I have chosen to use Professor Ames 1960Õs distorted room
experiment as the setting of this telematic encounter. The two users are placed
within a shared telepresent environment - four walls and table. However, one of
the users/viewers appears to be a great deal small than the other, and when
walking around the room their scale will alter in accordance with the optical
illusion of the Ames room - explained in more detail later in this proposal.
In addition to this disorientating perception of space
the users/viewers observe the space, and their shared existence within it via a
head mounted video display (a recent technology developed for mobile DVD
players). By donning a pair of these headset-glasses the two users will no
longer have the ability to control their movements in distant monitors, as in
previous installations. Instead they view their own movements via the fixed
camera position alone. In effect - removing their eyes from their head and
investing them solely within the camera on which they have to rely to navigate
within the space. Resulting in complete telepresent immersion.When viewing and listening
within the head mounted display, the two remote users will also witness themselves
existing together within a computer game environment that simulates a United
Nations negotiations room. This mapped 3D space will replace the blue box
chroma-key background of the physical space and transcend into a typical peace
talks room - an official set table occasion, complete with national insignia,
papers of declaration and microphones, surround by a gathering of virtual
characters with contrasting roles within the conflict.
PEACE TALKS - THE
AMES ROOM EXPERIMENT
Developed in
the 1960Õs by Professor Adelbert Ames Jr. of Dartmouth College USA, the Ames
room is a specially constructed room that, due to size and shape constancy,
looks normal. Actually, the walls and windows are
trapezoidal and one corner is much farther away from the observer than the
other. Research indicates that the Ames room illusion can be explained by the
lack of cues normally used in three-dimensional shape constancy. Most of the
static, monocular depth cues are ambiguous, giving rise to several possible
interpretations. Because of that, previous knowledge, familiarity with images,
expectations, etc. have a strong effect on the interpretation of these
cues. (Dorward & Day, 1997).
PEACE
TALKS DOCUMENTARY VIDEO DOWNLOAD
Documentary of project: Click here to play (right click to save)
Quicktime free plugin can be found here
PEACE TALKS -
INSTALLATION DIAGRAM BASED ON AMES ROOM
A
trapezoidal table is constructed using the same monocular depth perception principle as the Ames room, allowing two remote users to
appear at different sizes sat at the same table.
