Andy Best and Merja Puustinen are a couple of art types living in Finland,
designing some impressive Web sites for traditional uses such as a site
that documents the public sculptures
of Helsinki. They have also produced a VRML walkthrough of the Kluuvi
Galleria at the Helsinki City
Art Museum. The artwork we're examining is called Conversations
with Angels and it can be quite interesting. Where else can you have a
discussion with a six armed, nine breasted lesbian queen!
According to the description from of the project at the Banff Centre of the Arts (a co-sponsor):
Artist
statement: Merja Puustinen & Andy Best
Conversation with Angels
http://meetfactory.com/angels.html
"Conversations with Angels" -what is it all about?
"Conversations with Angels" is a multimedia art work in the Internet
employing 3D computer graphics (VRML 97). Like traditional
multimedia it combines visual environments, animation, video, sound
effects and text. In addition, the multi-user capability accessible
via the Internet creates a whole new status of existence -an art
work as a social process, allowing the construction of an online
community within the artwork.
"Conversation with Angels" is primarily a platform for communication. Our multimedia art project is carried out as a social process and provocator. Besides being entertaining, it should also encourage the viewer to explore, investigate, test and question preconceptions about the nature of the Internet and virtual spaces.
The
viewer has to navigate him/herself into the plane in order
to find the bot characters and other spaces in the world. The
plane interior works like a hub from which other spaces can be
accessed. These include a house interior, where Carl the serial
killer and his bored wife Helen
live, a garden where Anne, a lesbian princess, grows
potatoes, a fish bowl inhabited by Bob the redneck, an island with
kids that are all fanatical political activists, etc. [The yard
is a hub area where you can enter the various individual spaces. 
The project is under construction, so many interactive elements and parts of the architecture are not completed. We are working full time at the Banff Centre to complete the world and the demanding programming needed for interaction, shared behaviours, etc. The whole project will be completed by May 1998.
Technical Realisation
Our web art project combines several essential elements of the Internet:
in "Conversations with Angels" project a multi-user space is
built which is used as a discussion and meeting platform for the
audience (viewers, participants) and also for artists who might
inhabit the space. In the worlds of our web project the viewer
can meet other visitors by using an 'avatar'. An avatar is a 3D
representation in a virtual space of the viewer her/himself.
The viewer can choose her/his own avatar. A variety of movements
can be programmed for the avatar (ie. dance, walk), all controllable
by the viewer. During the exhibitions Best and Puustinen will use their
own avatars to have a live presence in the virtual spaces,
and so be able to discuss and interact with visitors.
In
"Conversation with Angels" worlds there will be visual embodiments
for various characters and environments built using VRML. By
clicking with the mouse on the characters, a java applet switches
on a chat window, through which the viewer is able have a conversation
with this particular character. The visual symbolism of the characters
very often counteracts the content provided by the discussion programmes
(for example an ordinary looking man who turns out to be
a serial killer).
With "Conversations with Angels" multimedia project we intend to
create a virtual space in the Net, which is not constant,
but rearrangeble and with free possibilities for interaction
within certain parameters. It is not possible to destroy the
worlds, but one is able to navigate in 3D space, discuss
with other people and discussion programmes, move objects,
turn on and off sound effects, animations and video clips by clicking
with mouse, and also by moving in the space and by using certain
key words within chat programmes. When the viewer 'talks to' a chat
programme and types in, for example, "I hate you", this will trigger
a sound effect in the virtual world.
Target Audience
"Conversation with Angels" is designed for international distribution
mainly via Internet. At present VRML 97 browsers work for PCs,
SGI, and SUN work stations, and for Mac. "Conversation with Angels"
can be used by anyone with access to the equipment needed (ie. a
fast pc, Internet connection, and plug-ins for Netscape or a stand-alone
browser software). On the basis of the feed-back from previous web
projects, our audience is very international, mainly young people,
students etc.
The design of our web project is deliberately aimed not only at the
cultivated art audience but to a larger user group, those literate
of popular culture codes and meanings (the MTV generation), which
is, at least to a certain extent, familiar with the aesthetics of
the Internet and the rhetorics of IRC chat channels. "Conversation
with Angels"- multimedia art project will also be distributed as
an
installation in museums, galleries and festivals, to be accessible
within the traditional art context.
Content
The original name for the "Conversation with Angels" web project,
"Garden of Id", refered to the phsychoanalytical theory deriven
concept of 'ID', or the subconscious, according to Freudian interpretation
the most suppressed part of subjectivity. "Conversation with Angels"
continues to investigate the same metaphorical themes. The fascination
of virtual spaces is that they are without limits: the programmer is
the master of her/his world. But is it possible to control
the social process in a virtual environment?
Apart from investigating virtual (VRML) spaces, the main theme of
our project is to examine how identities are built in the
communicative space of virtual worlds. The user of a virtual world
is generally understood to be free to define her/his own gender,
sexual orientation, skin colour etc. With
"Conversations with Angels" we will investigate the extent
of 'liberation' and possibly set some question marks. We are
deliberately trying to dilute the barriers between physical and
virtual realities: the user of the space cannot be quite sure if
she/he is having a conversation with a robot chat programme or with
a 'real' person. The scripts for the replies in the chat programmes
are based on interviews done with real people, and also on urban
and ethnic legends, and from research in books, newspapers, tv,
etc. Using true and often painful real-life stories and combining
symbolic meanings from various cultures we will create a multi-lateral
and multi-dimensional environment, where references cannot be reduced
back to the most evident interpretation. We intend to imply that
even though the Internet and virtual reality are not autonomous
virgin entities separate from the 'real' world and in a non-political
vacuum, the possibilities for artistic creativity can be far-reaching.
In "Conversations with Angels" multimedia art project the so
called 'characters' represent identities and characters that
by their visual appearance seem to be gathered from a mixture of humanoid
forms, other objects, machines and organic matter. The space surrounding
the characters stimulates activities, reacting to users movements
and activities by sound and animation effects. The nature of the
environments, the fragmented design of the characters and politically
provoking chat programmes emphasise the dialectic relationship of
content and style referring to popular and media culture.
Therefore
our intention is to create in the Internet a communicative space
equivalent to the logic of MUD games, where art is enabled as a
social process rather than a formally static solution dictated by
the artist. With "Conversations with Angels" we try to enable intellectually
challenging interaction
both between the virtual space and the users and between
users themselves. The art work demands that the audience actively
responds and has a willingness to communicate in order that they
fully experience the artwork. Up until now, so called interactive
art works have been no more than
ready set multiple choice mechanical tasks for the audience. With
this project we offer the viewer/visitor true freedom to
explore, interact, and actually leave their own mark in the artwork.
Formats
In "Conversation with Angels" web art project traditional multimedia
elements are used: text, animation, video, sound effects etc.
Text is being used in many different ways: a) written instructions
which help people to navigate in virtual space. b) some special
objects in 3D worlds built of words and text-imagemaps. c)
chat- discussion windows, through which users can talk to other
people or to robot discussion programmes.
It is possible to use video in VRML worlds (MPEG), yet clips have to be extremely short and rather based on repetition rather than linear narration due to bandwidth restrictions. Most of the elements in the worlds are animated which means that clicking these elements will start a 3D animation and/or a sound effect. The sound effects are spatially integrated into the architecture of the worlds: the closer the user is to the source of the effect, the clearer the sound and vice versa. The use of sound is similar to video, based on repetition and effect quality, like background noise, because sound takes lots of band width. Some sound elements will be once only events, triggered by the user. In VRML spaces it is possible to use audio based chat- channels in some browsers, which makes it possible for the users to communicate by means of live, realtime sound. It is not possible to use this for robot discussion programmes, as speech recognition is not developed enough yet to be of much use in this application.
Form
In "Conversations with Angels"- multimedia art project we deliberately
employ an aesthetical style familiar from popular imagery and
computer games, into which certain elements from ethnic and 
culturally coded symbols are mixed (for example Princess
Anne and Super Activo characters). Our intention is not only to
take critical distance from the heritage of scandinavian design,
but also to offer possibilities of interpretation written into our
cultural code. These potential codes for interpretation are though
not categorically diminished to Disney cartoon levels, we rather
aim at multi-dimensional and striking juxtaposition, creating a
conversational tone between content and aesthetics. The aesthetical
style of our project could be defined as postmodern strategy combining
fragmented metaphores and elements, while using humour and irony
we intend to analyse the status of sexual and cultural minorities
in the mainstream.
Colours used in the worlds vary according to the particular character
and environment. They are 
complemented
by using texture image maps which can represent realistic or imaginary
materials (wood, steel, stone, alien skin, etc). These can also
be scripted to dynamically change according to users interaction.
The sound effects create the atmosphere of the space and an architectural
sensation of depth. The sounds function parallel to the discussion
programmes, as we are using lots of 'human' sounds like whispers and
natural sound elements that refer to organic and subconscious
reality. All the worlds together create a unified and solid entirety
from the relationship between the virtual architecture, the characters
inhabiting the spaces, the sounds, and content and themes portrayed.
Production team
"Conversations with Angels" is produced by Meet Factory Ltd
(media artists Merja Puustinen and Andy Best) and producer
Outi Rousu from Kroma Productions Ltd. Artistic design, manuscript
and realization is carried out by Merja Puustinen and Andy Best.
Co-production partners are the Banff
Centre for the Arts (Alberta, Canada) and the Contemporary
Art Museum (Media Arts curator Perttu Rastas / Kiasma), Helsinki,
Finland. The Executive producer in Banff is Sara Diamond (director,
Media and Visual Arts), with programming assistance from Don Smith,
Scott Wilson, Craig McPherson. Richard Munn (London) provides additional
programming assistance.
email:
meat@meetfactory.com
url:
http://meetfactory.com
Well it's off to VRML98 this week...stay tuned for conference news.