The largest installation of interactive art in the world, Vectorial
Elevation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, will be presented for the
first time in Europe at the inauguration of the Basque Museum of
Contemporary Art, ARTIUM.
As of April 22, 2002, anyone who logs onto the website
www.alzado.net will be able to design enormous light sculptures in
the sky over Vitoria, using 18 robotic searchlights placed around
the Museum's central Square. The beams of light will be visible at
a distance of 15 kilometres; every six seconds a new design will be
displayed as it arrives from the Internet. The designs may include
participants' names and dedications, which will be shown on a large
screen in the Square.
The Web site will include a virtual model of the ARTIUM Square
where the participants will be able to direct the searchlights and
view the dome of light from any angle. The site will also present a
live broadcast from three video cameras placed around the Square
and on a tower of Saint Mary's Cathedral. A web page will be made
automatically to record the design of each participant.
The installation Vectorial Elevation was presented for the first
time at the Zócalo Plaza in Mexico City for the year 2000
celebrations. More than 800,000 people from 89 countries visited
the web site in a two-week period, and the exhibition at ARTIUM is
expected to exceed that figure. The piece has received a number
of prestigious electronic art awards such as the Golden Nica at the
Prix Ars Electronica in Austria, a distinction at the SFMOMA Webby
Awards in San Francisco and an Excellence Prize at the CG Arts
Media Art Festival in Tokyo.
Vectorial Elevation is the work of the Mexican-Canadian artist
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, who is assisted by a dozen programmers,
designers and technicians from five countries. Lozano-Hemmer's
speciality, which he calls relational architecture, aims to transform
urban spaces with new interactive technologies that allow the public
to form an integral part of the artwork.
The piece is sponsored by Telefónica, Dragados y Construcciones
and Lagunketa, and it will be in operation every day from April 22
to May 5, 2002 from dusk to dawn (9 PM to 6 AM).
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