Realistic Re-enactment of Nam June Paik's Versailles Fountain (1993) in Unreal Engine (UE)

 

Figures: Original und virtual copy of Versailles Fountain in UE. Blueprint of a neon lamp.

 

During the practical course of e-Installation "Media Art in Unreal Engine 4" (winter semester 2014/15) the computer science students Lea Steffen and Fabian Mack have produced an improved version of the e-Installation "Versailles Fountain" (1993). Through audio and visual effects in the Unreal Engine (UE) a higher level of realistic representation was achieved. In addtion, the students modeled the exibition aerea of the ZKM where the video sculpture Versailles Fountain used to be, allowing for a virtual walk in the museum. Neon lamps and televisions were implemented as blueprints. A blueprint is a digital programming design that can be varied to use or expand the properties of an object. Thus, a first stone has been added for the production of other works of art that can build on existing parts.

Diploma Thesis by Jennifer McClelland: Development of a Human-Machine Interface for the e-Installation 10,000 Moving Cities – Same but Different (2013) by Marc Lee

Figures: Virtual Interface for 10,000 Moving Cities – Same but Different and the Artist Marc Lee During the Tests.

 

The computer science student Jennifer McClelland has developed an interface for human-computer interaction (HCI) for the project e-Installation as diploma thesis project.
The thesis was supervised by Florian Faion (ISAS), Antonio Zea (ISAS) and Jesús Muñoz Morcillo (ZAK). Ms. McClelland tested different input devices and display options in the virtual version of Marc Lee's net art installation "10,000 Moving Cities – Same but Different". For this purpose, she used a wireless handheld mouse with trackball whose functionality can be extrapolated to similar works of art.

 

ISAS-ZAK Practical Course: Immersive digital Re-enactment of a New Media Art Installation. 10,000 Moving Cities – Same but Different (2013) by Marc Lee

 

Figures: Marc Lee's 10,000 Moving Cities – Same but Different (2013), National Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, South Corea and the Virtualized Version.

 

In the summer semester 2014, the net art installation of Swiss artist Marc Lee "10,000 Moving Cities – Same but Different (2013)" was – virtualized by the students Filip Szeliga, Michael Schröder, and Jan Philipp Gerlach. The art installation was transformed into an e-Installation with special focus on spatial aspects. Since the work of Marc Lee is a network-based installation, two approaches were followed: a telepresent version that works in real time, and an additional version that works as offline documentation.

This is the link to the description of the practical course 

You find more information about this and other practical courses at the ISAS-Homepage.

 

Versailles Fountain (1993) by Nam June Paik

 

Figures: Virtual Inspection of the Versailles Fountain at the ISAS-"Holodeck".

 

Under the direction of the ZAK and the ISAS, computer science students of the KIT have virtualized a work of media art during the winter semester 2013/2014. The students Jennifer McClelland, Pascal Becker, and Xuefei Zheng produced our first e-Installation based on the video sculpture "Versailles Fountain" (1993) by Nam June Paik. For this purpose the students implemented a 3D-reconstructed model and transcoded videotextures into a game engine developed by our colleague Antonio Zea that works with a kinect-based tracking system. The sculpture was at that time exhibited at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, and was shortly thereafter removed for building maintenance reasons.

PUBLICATIONS ABOUT VIRTUALIZATION AND DIGITAL ART CONSERVATION

• Muñoz Morcillo, Jesús; Schaaf, Franziska; Schneider, Ralf; Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. (2016): Authenticity Through VR-Based Documentation of Culture Heritage. A Theoretical Approach Based on the Case Studies Jupiter Column and Kaleidophonic Dog. Virtual Archaeology Review (accepted)
  
  
• Muñoz Morcillo, Jesús; Faion, Florian; Zea, Antonio; Hanebeck, Uwe D.; Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. (2016): e-Installation: Synesthetic Documentation of Media Art via Telepresence Technologies, in: Boştenaru Dan, Maria; Crăciun, Cerasella (eds.): Space and Time Visualisation. Springer Nature, pp. 173-191.
  Preprint (2014): http://arxiv-web3.library.cornell.edu/abs/1408.1362

 

• Faion, Florian; Friedberger, Simon; Zea, Antonio und Hanebeck, Uwe D. (2012): Intelligent Sensor-Scheduling for Multi-Kinect-Tracking, in: Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2012). Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal, Oktober 2012.

 

• Muñoz Morcillo, Jesús (2011): Überlieferung von Medienkunst und digitale Nachlassverwaltung. In: Roberson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. und Hauser, Robert (Hrsg.): Neues Erbe. Aspekte, Perspektiven und Konsequenzen der digitalen Überlieferung. KIT Scientific Publishing, pp. 123-140.

 

• Serexhe, Bernhard (Hrsg.) (2013): Digital Art Conservation. Konservierung digitaler Kunst: Theorie und Praxis. AMBRA | V und ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie.