Difference Engine #3

© 1999 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 269–271, 1999 269 ARTISTS’ STATEMENTS DIFFERENCE ENGINE #3 Lynn Hershman, 1935 Filbert Street, San Francisco, CA 94123, U.S.A. E-mail: . Received 23 September 1997. Accepted for publication by Roger F. Malina. The Difference Engine #3 [1] was inspired by Charles Babbage’s original Difference Engine (commonly considered the world’s first computer) [2]. The original machine was used to calculate numerical positions, yielding calculations that proved useful in navigation, science , surveying and finance. The Difference Engine #3 “calculates” museum visitors and incorporates them into a virtual representation of the museum. The Difference Engine #3 is an interactive , multi-user, telerobotic sculpture that uses the architecture of the ZKM Media Museum as a template and the visitors to the museum as the interface [3]. The result is a virtual life cycle, complete with avatars—cyber representations of the users. The avatars are “born” when a QuickCam, embedded in the physical unit, flips 180° to capture the image of the person standing before it. Each avatar is assigned a number. The numbered avatar (Fig. 1) embarks on a 2minute journey through a three-dimensional (3D) world represented in Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML2) and coded with Java (Fig. 2). The avatar is then moved to a purgatorial site where it cycles until 30 avatars are present. The avatar is eventually moved to an archive permanently housed on the Internet. On-line visitors choose a “generic” avatar to represent them and to travel alongside the avatars that have been created for people physically in the museum. On-line visitors can also “capture” images within the museum —that is, they can see into the space via the live video feed from the same camera that is capturing the image of people in the museum. A dedicated chat line allows on-line viewers to communicate with the people in the physical space. The physical installation consists of three stations called Bi-directional Browsing Units (BBUs). The BBUs house a graphical representation of the museum, which acts as a “mirror link” between “real” visitors to the museum and those who visit via the Internet. The mirror link reflects both from the Internet to the physical space of the ZKM Museum and from the halls of the museum out into cyberspace. At the entrance to the museum a large LCD (liquid crystal display) screen houses the Purgatory space in which the avatars are suspended. Fig. 1. Lynn Hershman in collaboration with Construct Internet Design, Difference Engine #3, interactive, multi-user, telerobotic sculpture, site-specific installation and web site, 1997–1998. Numbered avatars—cyber representations of the work’s users—are created of museum visitors and on-line viewers. Fig. 2. Lynn Hershman in collaboration with Construct Internet Design, Difference Engine #3, interactive, multi-user, telerobotic sculpture, site-specific installation and web site, 1997–1998. Avatars embark on a 2-minute journey through a three-dimensional world represented in Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML2) and coded with Java. 270 Artists’ Statements The sculpture functions in the following ways: 1. The BBUs can be physically manipulated in the museum or telerobotically over the Internet. 2. Movement of the BBUs produces corresponding, shifting perspectives within the virtual world. 3. Attached to the BBUs are digital cameras that capture an image of the museum visitor and transform it into a numbered avatar. This number can later be used to call the avatar up from its final resting place (the archive) at any point in time. 4. Viewers are attracted to the piece by a cyber screen-saver that beckons them. Up to 45 avatars can float simultaneously through the virtual museum during their 1-hour life span. On their way to the final archival resting place, they are suspended in a purgatorial space, which can be seen on the large LCD screen at the entrance to the museum. A dedicated web site hosts information about the project’s development and provides views into the real and virtual spaces. It is via this site that the virtual visitor is afforded telerobotic control over the BBU. Notes 1. Difference Engine #3 was created in collaboration with Construct Internet Design. Artist: Lynn Hershman...