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Following
the success of ‘Picnic on the Screen’ presented
at the Glastonbury Festival 2009 Charlotte Gould and Paul
Sermon have been invited to develop a new version of this
interactive public video installation for Picnic in Arcadia
used to link public audiences between the Bluecoat Gallery
Liverpool and the University of Shanghai, for the first time
via a telematic videoconference connection, as part of Liverpool
Biennial 2010.
Utilising
the latest blue screen and HD videoconferencing technology
the installation brought public participants together within
a shared telepresent urban picnic scene. Merging live camera
views of remote audiences together and placing them within
a simulated arcadia environment, together with computer animated
elements that were triggered and controlled by the audience
through a unique motion tracking interface integrated within
the installation. When a member of the audience discovers
their image on screen they immediately enter the telepresent
space, watching a live image of them selves sitting on a picnic
blanket next to another person. They soon start to explore
the space and understand they are now in complete physical
control of a telepresent body that can interact with another
person in an illustrated enchanted arcadian scene, complete
with animated characters that respond to their movement and
actions.
This
site-specific work, shown at the University of Shanghai and
simultaneously in the Bluecoat Gallery Liverpool, allowed
the public to engage and interact while simply passing through
or relaxing having lunch. This playful environment merges
two public spaces together, creating a third otherworldly
space on screen where people can interact with others across
the globe on a virtual picnic blanket, allowing the audience
to explore alternative networked spaces.
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