Schlosspost Web Residents #2

The call took Ivan Sutherland’s concept of the »ultimate display« from the mid 1960s as a point of departure, which predicted what William Gibson described as »cyberspace« in the late 1980s and at the beginning of the 1990s computer scientists and engineers developed under the term »virtual reality.« Now, a new generation of users has started to look through the looking glass, in the form of affordable technical devices like lite-weight 3D helmets, large scale 3D TV screens, and actual virtual reality standards and applications for the web.

The call for web residencies »Re-entering the Ultimate Display« encouraged (digital) artists and scientists (alone or in teams) to share the digital wonderland they would create and inhabit. All kinds of virtual reality projects were welcome, for example interactive installations and applications inside and outside of the web, rides through 3D movies and worlds, virtual reality games, and so on.

Over seventy fascinating project proposals were received from applicants from all over the world. The three chosen web residents will work on their projects for four weeks until July 4 2016, reporting on their steps. The shortlist for the call will be released soon.

Find the three concepts from the new web residents together with statements from the juror here:

»The Show & the Show«
by Brud

The Show & The Show is a stage loosely inspired by China Mieville’s The City & the
City, which describes »two cities that occupy much of the same geographical space but via the volition of their citizens are perceived as two different cities«. The Show & the Showtransfers this idea to the domain of art by staging two shows that are simultaneously conterminous & contemporaneous; i.e., two shows taking place in the same space at the same time. The unseeing is contingent upon the viewer, & manifests as the act of blinking. The separation of the two shows is emphasised by the genre, technique, & chronology of the artworks. A common spacetime permeates.

»The contemporaneous and homogeneous existence of many things at exactly the same location – what in the real world can only be fragmentarily described in terms such as parallel or interlaced is one of the most important intrinsic qualities of computer-generated space. The work The Show & the Show creates a unique experience based on two »simultaneously coterminous and contemporaneous« exhibitions, where all boundaries of space and place are dissolved. I really look forward to being there …«
– Mario Doulis

»Old Galleries Are Boring, New Horizons on the Internet«
by Manuel Minch

Internet Moon Gallery is created as a 3D digital space which shows tangible and intangible pieces at the same level, neutralizing the physical condition of the works exhibited in Internet Moon Gallery. It will generate an atmosphere that will allow viewing without the physical traditionalism of the flat communication offered by the screen. Internet Moon Gallery breaks this tradition of the physical. It maintains the eloquent sense of the traditional art galleries, but it is designed in order to make access to it from anywhere and at any time easier. Internet Moon Gallery juxtaposes the two spaces to create a new one that works with adequate representation of the two realities. This project aims to curate a temporary exhibition (for 4 weeks) in this new space.

»The first Internet gallery based on the moon. And the first I have seen so far that combines in form and content a concept that makes me feel I have discovered something new. The fact that all parts of the gallery are somehow known from other works makes it difficult for me to describe exactly why it feels new. But I’ll check it out now – my first steps on the moon.«
– Mario Doulis

»Back to De Stijl: A Return to Modernist Cinema«
by Jeremy Rotsztain

In The House of Shadow-Silence, viewers travel in a recursive trip through Kiesler’s cinema: through the retractable eye, into the movies displayed on screen, and then back into the cinema. They experience animations that extend outwards through its walls. These are inspired by the work of abstract filmmaker Hans Richter, whose work was screened on the opening weekend. Jeremy Rotsztain will create a VR artwork for Oculus Rift using a custom game engine that generates an endless sequence of unique audio/visual animations – a poetic tribute to Kiesler’s vision: getting lost in an endless space.

»Not to confuse old with outdated, present with temporary, and future with innovative – this work shows a poetic example of how this can lead to projects that tie together a virtual space where innovative thoughts and techniques of different »disciplines« and decades can be interwoven into a homogeneous multi-medium. I hope Kiessler and Richter are around somewhere and can have a look at it.«
– Mario Doulis