Tracer
by Deborah and Richard Cornell
- Description
This piece can be viewed from two venues, the ImmersaDesk and
the Access Grid.
- VR
The VR environment consists of a navigable texture-mapped space (two
concentric spheres, one slowly rotating) with ambient audio. Using
the wand, the viewer can draw lines on a virtual canvas in the center
of the space. As lines are drawn, sounds are produced whose timbre,
etc. is a function of drawing speed and location. Lines drawn by
remote participants (AG and VR) are seen and heard as well.
- AG
Each AG participant runs a drawing application on a laptop. This
application produces a stream of coordinates which are used by other
networked programs to draw lines. The AG screen shows a number of
rendered views from VR, one of which is navigable by AG participants.
An AG-wide audio rendering engine is used to produce a composite
sound stream using all drawing applications to control sound
parameters. In addition it is possible that a dedicated 'rat'
computer will be connected to a Lexicon PCM90 to generate a delayed,
altered version of any spoken audio.
- Technical Requirements
Standard AG hardware and software is required. Sites which wish to
navigate in VR must also provide computers running Windows '98 or
Windows 2000. The VR navigation software will be distributed on the
Web. Sites which wish to draw lines in the VR space must provide
computers capable of running browsers which support the Java 1.3
plug-in.
- Artists' Statement
Tracer is a luminous revolving world of drifting atmosphere and
cryptic messages appearing in thin air. The piece combines active real-time
participation with the discovery of ancient images from archeology,
historical texts, and proto-verbal markings. Visitors to Tracer,
both on location and at remote sites, connect with each other in its
environment, by creating their own gestural tracery within its sphere.
Sound sculpts the local atmoshere. It emanates from air and objects and
responds to the movements of navigators. Tracer's aesthetics are
of gesture, human communication, time and transience.
- Artists' Bios
- Deborah Cornell
is on the faculty of the Boston University School for
the Arts, where she is Chair of Printmaking, and is also the Director
and Co-Founder of the Experimental Etching Studio in Boston. She works
in digital and traditional prints, painting, installation, and
sculpture. Her work has been supported with a Bunting Institute
Fellowship and grants from the Deya Archeological Foundation (for
work in Majorca), the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Ford
Foundation among others. She has lectured and exhibited internationally,
including Great Britain, Canada, France and Australia. Her works are
included in the Museum of Fine Arts, the Worcester Museum, IBM, Gannett
Corporation, Fidelity, Bank of Boston, Hospital Corporation, and other
public and private collections in the U.S. and abroad.
- Richard Cornell
is an Associate Professor at Boston University's School for the
Arts Music Division, where he teaches composition, theory, and computer
music. His works have been performed by the New England Philharmonic, Boston
Musica Viva, Collage New Music, Alea III, Triple Helix,
and, most recently, the Muir Quartet. His works have been
performed internationally, most recently in Athens, St. Petersburg,
Sofia and Gdansk. His electronic and computer music for theater and
dance has been presented by the Blue Heron Theater in New York, and by
Beth Soll & Co. in Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Boston, and in Russia. His
collaborative works with Deborah Cornell (The Sleep of Reason, Linea
Australis, Tracer) have been shown in galleries actual and virtual
and worldwide over high-speed computer network.
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