041

Authors:

 Casacuberta, David ; Petterd , Robin ; Wortzel , Adrianne.

Title:

 REWRAPPING THE REAL WORLD: USING HYPER-NARRATIVE IN VIRTUAL SPACES TO CREATE UN-COMMON REALITIES

Keywords:

 Hypernarrative, Theater, AI, Moo, Virtual, Reality

Abstract:

 New media environments give us the opportunity to translate
abstract concepts, like the ones accessible from a database, into spatial
ones. We no longer access databases in a serial, linguistic way, but by
navigating through a VR space where pieces of information transform into
3-D objects with relative locations. We live in a networked world, and
require Boolean combinations of hyper-narrative for space-oriented
databases.

MOOs - Object-Oriented Multi-User Dungeons - are very
interesting spaces in which to create and study this kind of narrative. We
are currently building a MOO to demonstrate that its technology can be
modified in a very interesting way, producing a set of rules based in AI
techniques which are able to create "a la carte" worlds; worlds where
people with different personalities or world views each experience a
different world according to their differences and not their similarities.

Our Moo Project uses ideas of generated stories for each
user that enters the moo. So if two are in the same the space each
actually 'sees' different things based on their 'profile'. This opens up
questions about the nature of perceptual spaces, the nature of a world
which is customized to your likes and dislikes and reflects part of you
nstead of the wider world and forms a verdant virtual space for
generating story fragments over navigable hypertext spaces.

Our paper will describe our moo project, present our main
theoretical points and discuss the future improvements that can be
obtained, by means of using it in more complex visual spaces, use of
sensors to check basic emotions in the viewers, and its ability to create
new VR worlds were the idea of "common reality" is no longer used. We will
cite and show examples of our own work and explore the works of others such
as the ex-Fura del Baus media artist Marcel.li Antunez, the playwright
Charles Mee, the writings of Borges, Calvino, Kristeva, Chaucer, Joyce.
Our paper will also discuss the use of uncommon realitiies in the
methodology of inventors such as Nikolas Tesla, Marconi and others.



CV:David Casacuberta is a teaching assistant professor in the Universidad
Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain). His main research line is about the
relationship between cognitive sciences and new media and, specifically,
the development of emotional interfaces for computer assisted
communication. He has published several articles on the subject and has a
book "What is an Emotion. Editorial CrÌtica, Barcelona" in press. As an
artist he is the co-founder -with Marco Bellonzi- of the net.art group
"Gomi Corp.". Their main work is "O CangaÁo do Santo File" a hypernarrative
space which uses a distributed net of web pages to fake a virtual hacker
community. Both his theoretical and artistic works can be found on-line at
http://www.globaldrome.org.

Robin Petterd past works explore notions of place and identity and current
projects explore ideas of organization and dis-organization in a digitally
augmented world. Documentation of his work can be found on the world wide
web at http://otheredge.com.au. Previous hypermedia collaborative writing
includes Imaginative Reading IV, 1997
(http://otheredge.com.au/prj/imaginative/index.html) and Surface for frAme
e-journal (http://human.ntu.ac.uk/frame/frame.html) and Travels Travels
(http://overthere.com.au/travels). He is currently a PhD candidate at the
School of Art, Hobart University of Tasmania.

Wortzel, Adrianne. sphinx@panix.com Adrianne Wortzel is an artist, educator and writer whose works are documented at http://artnetweb.com/wortzel/. Her works include the "Globe Theater" robotic installations and performance productions, the most recent of which is "Sayonara Diorama" produced in 1998 as an artist-in-residence at The Lehman College Art Gallery/Lovinger Theater via a NYSCA grant. She is a former co-host of Pseudo TV's internet broadcast program "Art Dirt". Her recent articles on art and technology have been published in Intelligent Agent", "Leonardo" and her article "A Moo* Play on The Nun's Priest Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer" is forthcoming in the December 1998 issue of "New Observations". She is an Associate Professor of Advertising Design and Graphic Arts at New York City Technical College, CUNY.