Interactivity and Immersion

Info : 14.00 - 15.45 · Conference Programme · De Balie - Main Hall · Panel · fri. 22-02-08

mod: Arie Altena

Two terms have haunted the discourse on new media arts and cinema‭: ‬interactivity and immersion‭. ‬In what form can interactive cinema work‭? ‬What is the role of immersion‭? ‬What kind of immersive environments are built‭ ‬by artists and researchers‭ ‬to achieve something which we could call‭ ‘‬the cinematic experience‭’?‬

Jeffrey Shaw‭: ‬Experiments in Interactive Cinema
Marnix de Nijs‭: ‬The Dynamic Clash Between the Real and the Virtual

Jeffrey Shaw‭ (‬AU‭) ‬discusses and shows examples of technological and artistic advances in interactive cinema that have taken place over the last five years at the iCinema Research Centre in Sydney‭. ‬This involves highly immersive visualisation environments‭, ‬interactive‭ ‬narrative systems and distributed multi-user interfaces‭. ‬The research focus is on the innovation of technical and conceptual methodologies that enable an artistic renewal and/or reframing of the cinematic experience‭. ‬Jeffrey Shaw has been pioneering interactive media art since his expanded cinema experiments in the late sixties‭. ‬His numerous installations include milestones as‭ ‬The Legible City‭, ‬The Golden Calf‭, ‬The Virtual Museum‭, ‬Heavens Gate‭ ‬and‭ ‬EVE‭. ‬Shaw was one of the founders of the Eventstructure Research Group‭ (‬1967-1982‭) ‬in Amsterdam‭, ‬he was founding director of the ZKM Institute for Visual Media Karlsruhe‭ (‬1992-2001‭), ‬and since 2002‭ has been founding director of the UNSW iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research‭.‬

In dialogue with Arie Altena‭, ‬Marnix De Nijs‭ (‬NL‭) ‬discusses the artistic motives that provoke his interactive‭, ‬immersive works‭. ‬He demonstrates how his recent work focuses‭ ‬on the physical experience in order to express the juxtaposition between the real and the virtual‭. ‬Examples of this are his research project‭ ‬Exercise in Immersion 4‭, ‬his interactive film‭ ‬Run Motherfucker Run‭ ‬and the installation‭ ‬Beijing Accelerator‭.‬‭ ‬As an artist Marnix de Nijs explores the dynamic confrontation between human bodies‭, ‬machines and other media‭.

Tags : Jeffrey Shaw, Marnix de Nijs