Interactive Media: Myron W. Krueger

Blake Romenesko

Myron Krueger is seen as a pioneer in digital art, augmented reality, and interactive art. His work dates back to 1969; a period before internet, Atari, and arcade machines. During that time he began some early experiments in virtual realty using a system of sensing surfaces and video cameras. Eventually he teamed up with a number of artists and engineers came a variety of pieces that changed the relationship between the viewer and art.

His work generally consists of using a system of censoring surfaces, video cameras, and projections. Very often Krueger uses hardware and ideas from a previous piece to further explore in a new piece. He even continues to work on a single piece for over twenty years to change it with newer technology and new ideas. The timeline of his works demonstrates a fluid evolution. He is also interested with the human-computer relationship as well the human-human relationship via computer. Also he plays the idea of a "composed reality."

Videoplace(1970) is most likely Krueger's most famous piece and biggest contribution to both digital arts and interactive media. The piece was a result of three smaller experiments. It opened as an artificial reality lab at the University of Connecticut and was seen as a pioneering curiosity for both art and science. And now the piece is on permanent display at the State Museum of Natural History at the University of Connecticut. 

Videoplace:

About of Krueger's early experiments Glowflow(1969):

http://www.artelectronicmedia.com/artwork/glowflow

Small Planet(1993) works as the viewer uses their arms to fly around the planet

http://www.iamas.ac.jp/interaction/i97/artist_Krueger.html

*Disclaimer

I need to use this blog for a class, so you are going to start seeing some weird posts that might seem random. You'll notice up above there's a tab called "Interactive Media" as well as posts labeled "Interactive Media." These are posts more for my class rather than the general Zenith Perspective reader. 

The Mystery of Clough Island

In 1946 the government received unusual radioactive signals coming from Clough Island in Duluth. Professor Whiteside of Chicago got hired by the U.S. Government to inspect the island. According to recently declassified documents he found the ruins of a lost civilization and a strange machine. During the investigation he disappeared and was never seen ever since.

Reflection:

Moviestorm is a pretty neat program. It has a number of both pros and cons. The program allows you to do things most student filmmakers would unable to do such as special effects, large sets, and large casts.  However it can be restrictive on some things as well. The Moviestorm avatars often don't have the same liberty that the human body does. The human face can do an infinite amount of expressions that the avatar can not. There were other specifics that I had to manipulate Moviestorm to do that would be easy in real life. The program is great to create humorous and/or magical scenes, but less efficient in much more.