Forma: Lynette Wallworth — immersive environment challenges our perception of space

Lynette Wallworth - Sydney Festival 2010

Sydney-based artist Lynette Wallworth presents her trilogy of interactive installations at the Sydney Festival 2010.

The trilogy was recently completed by Duality of Light, commissioned by the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund and presented at the Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum this year in the Festival's Art and Moving Image strand. It completes a series of works that together investigate powerful human emotions, such as grief, loss and the re-emergence of hope. Wallworth makes skillful use of video and responsive technologies to create deeply emotional and human experiences.

The trilogy was begun in 2004 with Invisible by Night, commissioned by Experimenta, Melbourne. The work was a response to the site of the City's former morgue and features a grieving woman who, when beckoned by a touch on the screen, wipes away the condensation to meet eyes with her visitor.

Evolution of Fearlessness premiered at New Crowned Hope Festival, Vienna in 2006. This work features the portraits of 11 women who together represent the human instinct for survival and hope. Following persecution in their native countries, these women have rebuilt their lives in Australia.

Duality of Light is an immersive environment to be experienced by one person at a time. It allows each visitor to go on a unique and singular journey through a soundscape that challenges our perception of space. In navigating the installation environment, visitors will encounter others whose surprising presence reveals the Duality at the heart of the work.

Exhibition
7-24 January 2010 | Sydney Festival | Sydney, AU

Press coverage:

Realtime January 2010 - 'See yourself seeing'
www.Concreteplayground.com

Lynette Wallworth – Duality of Light (2009)
Commissioned by Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund (2009)
Produced by Forma
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Lynette Wallworth – Evolution of Fearlessness (2006)
Commissioned by New Crowned Hope Festival, produced by Forma

Lynette Wallworth – Invisible by Night (2004)
Commissioned by Experimenta.org
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

www.australiacouncil.gov.au/">Australia Council for the Arts

Images:
Top left: Rocco Fasano
Top right: Colin Davison (courtesy of National Glass Centre and the artist)
Bottom left: Grant Hancock (courtesy of Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide)

Related links:

Lynette Wallworth ›
Duality of Light (solo exhibtion) ›
Duality of Light ›
Evolution of Fearlessness ›
Invisible by Night ›
Diary ›

Further information for presenters of Forma projects

Professional ›

What Everyone Needs To Know About (Second) Life “On The Cloud” | Sand Castle Studios

Author: Gianna Borgnine (aka Kimberly Winnington)

Excerpt:

Cloud Computing and How it Applies to Second Life

What is a “cloud”, and just what is it computing?

Wikipedia has this to say on the matter:

“Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like a public utility”

For example, Amazon.com offers a prominent web hosting service knows as EC2. EC2 allows paying clients to rent hosting on Amazon’s “cloud.” The software EC2 is hosting for its clients isn’t being run on any one computer in particular. Instead, whatever is being hosted by EC2 (a website, or what have you) is run on a virtual machine, backed by bucket loads of server computers being maintained by Amazon.

I know, now you’re asking “What the heck is a virtual machine?” A virtual machine is basically a software program meant to mimic a full-blown computer. So, interaction with EC2 would be a simulation of working with a single computer. You would even be able to think of this virtual machine interface as the one computer at Amazon that is personally hosting all of your files. But this is a mirage, and behind the scenes everything is made up of a virtual sea of computation.
So there you have it, the cloud, a metaphorical method of providing different services over the Internet. When people say a web service is “on the cloud”, what they really mean is there is a group of servers on the Internet, running whatever software solution that service is providing. There is no one cloud, there are many. The semantic distinction here isn’t really being made over where these computers/servers are located, who owns them or what they’re doing, in as far as how they’re configured and being utilized.

To some people, the Second Life main grid sounds like it could be a cloud, but, personally, I wouldn’t consider it that way. The main reason being that each SIM is dedicated to a specific server core, with a specific allotment of RAM (etc…), and that’s it. The grid’s severs can’t say to themselves “Oh, well, there is less traffic on these SIMs over in this region, so let’s throw some of their resources at these other, crowded SIMs over here. A SIM’s resources are static, and the main grid isn’t just a blob of computing power ready to mold itself to different computing situations. Thus answers the age old question: If a tree falls in Second Life, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer: a big ol’ YES. It would be fantastic if this weren’t the case, but I’m no expert on the ins and outs of the main grid’s design, and I’m sure there are a number of reasons why things are the way they are.

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Experimental Cinema - great archive/network site - grazie Faisal!

(s8) 1ª Mostra de Cine Periférico logo

The first edition of the (S8) Peripheral Film Festival to be held next June 3-6 in A Coruña, Spain, aims to 'combine the new cinematographic trends... with the temporary and historical trail that the cinematographic format has been providing since its appearance'. During its four days, the newly-born festival packs an incredible programme featuring partial restrospectives of Iván Zulueta and Eugenio Granell's s8 film works, a session of Spanish contemporary s8 experimental films focusing on the work of David Domingo, videoinstallations by Maria Cañas and Alberte Pagán and a 16mm projectors performance by Bruce McClure.

You can access the full programme here.

The Jejune Institute's Aquatic Thought Foundation - one of many fascinating projects

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The Aquatic Thought Foundation

The Aquatic Thought Foundation is a privately funded research organization dedicated to the exploration of human-dolphin interaction. Since 1989, AquaThought has studied the neurological impact of close contact with dolphins on human subjects and the related therapeutic phenomena. Our research in neurological imaging has led to the development of MindSet, a low-cost neuro-mapping electroencephalograph program which makes advanced EEG research affordable. Our work has also led to the development Cyberfin, a virtual reality simulator which will bring virtual dolphin contact to a massive audience.

Aquatic Thought, in conjunction with Dolphin Discovery, hosts the annual International Symposium on Dolphin-Assisted Therapy, a conference focused on the exchange of research, methodologies, and ideas, and the application of neurotechnology and virtual reality in dolphin-assisted therapy.

Aquatic Thought is a founding member of an organizational alliance which has dedicated itself to the exploration of dolphin assisted therapy and the application of resultant neurotechnology. Spearheaded by Octavio Coleman Esq., this effort in forward thinking, ecologically conscious development will yield EcoPlex, the first dolphin interaction center in the world to focus exclusively on dolphin-human interaction. In conjunction with the Jejune Institute, the Aquatic Thought Foundation has created Aquatichought Labs, L.L.C. Aquatichought Labs will assimilate the products and technologies of the AquaticThought Foundation - and - will commercialize the neurotechnological developments of the dolphin interaction center.

The EcoPlex Center, to be located in San Jose, CA will facilitate dolphin assisted therapy programs, dolphin interaction research, adjunct therapeutic modalities, and research and development in related neurotechnology and virtual reality enterprises. Aquatic Thought's chairman, Blair Lucien, will chair the Dolphin Center's research committee.

Aquatic Tthought Labs will produce and market the Aquatic Thought Foundation's commercial projects- MindSet, a low-cost neuromapping EEG system, and CyberFin, an immersive dolphin encounter simulator. Aquatic Thought Labs will act as the research and development arm of EcoPlex and will resale any resultant products, as well as all above mentioned products, under the Aquatic Thought Labs brand.
Cyberfin Immersive Experience

Cyberfin was previewed at SIGGRAPH 94 and was subsequently exhibited at the Third Street Promenade, in Santa Monica, CA, and at the 1996 Summer Olympics, in Atlanta. D. Frerichs, moderator of the Internet SIGGRAPH Review said, "I would like to congratulate Cyberfin's creators for developing an immersive environment which actually triggered an emotional response... you get up with the biggest smile on your face. It was a great achievement in taking technology beyond crude hardware and turning it into a medium of expression."

Augmented Reality with the LG Ally and IM2 Comic Book (Phone Arena News)

Augmented Reality with the LG Ally and IM2 Comic Book If you love all gadgets, check our new sister site - Meet Gadget

Remember earlier this month when the LG Ally VS740 smartphone was announced and there was a tie-in with the Iron Man 2 movie? Now that the phone is no longer in "Pre-Order" status and is being shipped out, we know more of the details. Customers who purchase the LG Ally, enV Touch, or Chocolate Touch can visit the LGIM2 web site with their PC, click on the NAV icon and then Gift with Purchase. You're then prompted to enter your contact information, as well as the UPC Code and MEID ESN number from the Ally, enV Touch, or Chocolate Touch. After you submit it, you'll have to wait for a special Limited Edition (of 7500) LG Iron Man 2 Comic Book to arrive in the mail.

Click to see a large image.

Click to see a large image.

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Click to see a large image.

Click to see a large image.

Once you have the Comic Book you can use the LG Ally to visit the LG2IM web site in the phone's web browser and download a special application for the phone. (The app is only for the Android-based Ally and will not work on the enV Touch or Chocolate Touch). Once it's installed, you can launch the app on the Ally and use the front cover of the Comic Book, as it will show a 3D Iron Man suite hovering around the screen on the phone. You can move it around or zoom in and out by moving the phone closer or further away from the Comic Book.

Click to see a large image.

Click to see a large image.

Click to see a large image.

Click to see a large image.

It you happen to have a web cam on your PC, you can download two computer programs from the LGIM2 web site. The first is Iron Man Yourself, where you use the front cover of the Comic Book and hold it up to the web cam, which will transform yourself into Iron Man on the monitor. The second computer program is the Sky Thruster Game, which uses the back cover to move the Iron Man around in the game.

Click to see a large image.

Click to see a large image.

Click to see a large image.

The Augmented Reality app for the LG Ally and two computer programs are pretty cool, and so is the Limited Edition Iron Man 2 Comic Book. The only thing we feel that is missing is a true "Iron Man 2" version of the LG Ally, like there was last year with the Transformers LG Versa, that would have a special theme with wallpapers and sounds.

LG Ally VS740 Review | Specifications