Artistic Environments of Telepresence on the World Wide Web

LUISA PARAGUAI DONATI & GILBERTTO PRADO

provides the circulation of social imagination, as well as scientific information. This utilization of the Web as a social space of information exchange—managing the processes, procedures, and ABSTRACT actions involved in the formal composition of communication— The recent use of streaming video on the World involves the users in a concept of widespread and abstract space. Wide Web for the distribution of live images has For a long time, images have been “transported” by different enabled an interface that supports a new means and have produced different forms of aesthetics, with the phenomenon of virtual, defered, remote presence, intent to “contain” physical space and transfer it to other support- extending perception and expanding the possibili- ing media such as a screen, paper, and film. With modern com- ties of remote interaction. The purpose of this munication technologies, the image gains another characteristic: essay is to provide a brief survey of the use of real time. The live image enables and links people in remote loca- these live images in artistic spaces specifically tions in a temporal phenomenon and proposes transformations in conceived for this medium. These environments the relationships between and knowledge of people, through a will be presented in three different categories, “distance” and “dimension” that suggests forms of “movement” which propose transformations in possibilities of participation, interference, and the participants’ throughout the world. The use of Web cameras to generate live self-expression. images introduces its own specificity and transforms the “vision”of the viewer, as it incorporates telepresence into the metaphors of these images, generating a situation where a viewer/participant is capable of proposing a modification to a remote he World Wide Web, with its intrinsic capacities for inter- environment and receiving an immediate answer from it. As a connectivity and synchronicity has generated new possibili- result, new possibilities for users’ performances are opened up Tties for the relationship between participants, information, through an aesthetics resulting from the synergy of non-formal and technological support and provides an interactive communi- elements—such as the coexistence in virtual and real spaces, the cation space where infinite paths allow for participation in events, synchronicity of actions, remote control in real time, telerobotic real-time experiences, and remote actions exploring the sensation action and remote observation in a collaborative form. of ubiquity and simultaneity. Using webcams, one encounters a real-time, constantly updated We already live in a society that has continuously been exposed to and incorporated the ubiquity of telecommunications. Luisa Paraguai Donati, Student at the Department of Multimedia, The Internet has recently increased this tele-connectivity by Institute of Arts, Unicamp, Brazil. FAPESP. allowing text, images, sound, and video exchanges with any per- E-mail: [email protected] son one wishes to connect with professionally or socially, in a practically instantaneous manner. The creation of the WWW—as Gilbertto Prado, Multimedia Artist, Professor at the Department a net of human relations that transcends geographic limits and of Visual Arts, School of Communication and Arts, University of incorporates real-time participation and the occurrence of events São Paulo, Brazil. E-mail: [email protected] in a continuous (synchronal) or partial (non-synchronal) flow—

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/002409401753521566 by guest on 01 October 2021 digital image, which transports informa- the simulacra than the perception of the tact. Based on the various possibilities for tion from a remote physical space where a boundaries between fiction and reality, users' actions and interventions, one could user—despite the lack of a physical space making the limits between what is built propose a classification of experiences in of contact—starts to direct the potential and observed extremely imprecise, uncer- three different categories [6]: direct obser- development of events through alternative tain, and ambiguous [3]. Telepresence vation of remote physical spaces, syn- possibilities of “presence” and “encoun- thus produces a phenomenon where the chronous exchange of information, and ters.” The feeling of ubiquity that makes logic of the transmission/reception is sub- remote action in distinct physical spaces [7]. “being/acting” possible has its origins in stituted by the corporeal division of an the live images that implement a “tele-exis- individual who appears simultaneously in DIRECT OBSERVATION OF tence” in different physical spaces of con- several places. This feeling of potentially REMOTE PHYSICAL SPACES tact, a feeling and sensation that can be being physically present in a remote envi- Sites that use webcams are monitoring the converted into real and remote action. The ronment can be experienced as an individ- world with different objectives, for exam- images captured in real time unfold like ual point of view or as control over the ple, by transmitting images of traffic and “temporal windows,” rendering virtual the image and/or the manipulation of a device the weather or panoramic views and interventions of users who can observe, in the remote space itself. The user's con- “scenes” from people's private lives. This interact, move and share other distinct trol over “what” and “how” to see over the attitude of explicit voyeurism suggests “realities,” regardless of the physical dis- Web becomes more important than the exhibitionism, a reversibility of the gaze, as tances or geographic location but subject- image that mediates a glimpse and/or an well as “self-expression games” of personal ed to the speed of the connections for data action. This low resolution image becomes imagination, and is reinforced by transmission. According to Paul Virilio, secondary compared to the definition of or anonymity, a specific characteristic of reality became ubiquitous by simultane- access to other realities. As Paul Virilio communication over the Web. ously decomposing the time of the presence puts it, it is “a virtual reality that domi- This form of direct observation can also here and now and the telepresence beyond nates the reality while disturbing its own be considered surveillance of people's the “horizon of sensible appearances” [1]. idea of ‘reality’” [4]. whereabouts and personal lives. Our tech- The live image becomes “the horizon of Several artists have developed streaming nological society is already permeated by sensible appearances” when it comes to media projects on the Web and appropri- surveillance systems, and we frequently enabling not only the synchronal, interac- ated the technology to propose new forms come across surveillance cameras at air- tive communication over a distance (a sit- of aesthetics, utilizing materials that are ports, in subway stations, supermarkets, uation already made possible by the less physical than symbolic, created by shopping malls and banks where we are telephone) but also the emergence of a software and code. In a constant process of submitted to the technological and imper- tenuous dividing line between the several reverting formal interventions, the artist sonal gaze of monitors. With the miniatur- forms of “virtual/real communication” transforms the conditions of production ization of technology, surveillance has that allows users to coexist/operate in sev- and circulation and enables various forms become imperceptible, on the one hand, eral “worlds,” to be “at home” and at the of performance and action on the user's and abusive in the blurring of “seeing” and same time itinerant and “distributed.” The end. The artistic environments supported “being seen” on the other. virtual realm allows the image to represent by new technologies can be considered, as a space or an object, while the image's Marshall McLuhan puts it, “anti-environ- Depois do Turismo vem o Colunismo transmission enables both observation and ments or counter-environments, since they (After Tourism comes Colunismo) [8] the possibility to trigger actions, to manip- supply us with the means of perceiving the Gilbertto Prado’s Web installation took ulate and/or remotely displace material environment itself, as a form of training place between September 3 and October objects, thereby provoking and generating our perception and judgement” [5]. 31, 1998, as part of the exhibition “City movement. In terms of the use of webcams, there Canibal” at the Paço das Artes in São For Eduardo Kac, “The Art of Telep- are quite a few sites that are transmitting Paulo and was also included in the Web resence creates a unique context as a way information from remote spaces through art selection of the 24th Biennial in São to produce an open and engaging experi- live connections, providing a shared expe- Paulo (1998). Documentation of the event ence that manifests the cultural changes rience through constantly updated images. [9] can be accessed through the wAwRwT brought about by remote control, remote Several of these spaces are artistic proposals Project [10]. The installation consisted of vision, ‘telekinesis’ and real time exchange that use this technological interface in a “portal,” two webcams that were trig- of audio-visual information” [2]. Ken order to validate new behaviors by offering gered by sensors detecting visitors’ move- Goldberg observes that “while the virtual alternative possibilities for remote action ments in the physical space of the reality admits to its illusory nature, telep- experiences. This “new behavior” includes installation. The local images grabbed in resence can be defined as the presentation changes in concepts such as closeness, real time were mixed with ones from an of perceptual information that claims to manifestation of distance, personal image database and made available over correspond to a remote physical reality.” involvement and interaction among the Web (Fig. 1). The visuals stored in the What is being experimented with is less groups without any direct physical con- database included images of anthropopha-

438 Luisa Paraguai Donati and Gilbertto Prado, Artistic Environments of Telepresence on the World Wide Web

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/002409401753521566 by guest on 01 October 2021 Fig. 1. Gilbertto Prado's After Tourism comes Colunismo: the Web installation.

gi and pictures from the 16th and 17th always transforms itself through a new invitation to personal imagination and century portraying the first visitors and reading. Various cultural references can be navigating the space turned into a con- “tourists” of the Terra Brasilis, as well as mixed with a remote, observable physical frontation with one's own fears and references to art both contemporary and space, qualified by the remote presence of “ghosts.” In a very poetic manner, the from other periods. Web visitors could the person who is locally discovering and artist exposes and shares her world and sto- observe the space through the webcam. visiting the installation. The possibility of ries with the Web visitors. The work humorously addressed issues juxtaposing two worlds (imaginary and In many of the images it was possible surrounding presence and the "foreign" real), each one involving the other, raises to spot the other cameras, which created perspective, as well as cultural cannibalism questions concerning intimacy and the the feeling that one might be observed. In and contamination. sharing of the viewers'/visitors' inner and other images, gaps, openings, and details The presence of visitors in the "other outer realities. of the compositional elements created an land" results in integration as well as the emphasis on aesthetics. The semantic shock of a clash of values and cultural pre- The Ghost Watcher information conveyed by these objects and cepts embedded in “reality” and the cul- This installation, created by artist June spaces was less important than the aesthet- ture itself. The imagery from the Houston, was accessible on the Web from ics that may create its own meanings for post-discovery period evokes the con- 1995 on and the site has now evolved into each of the participants. frontation with the “difference” of the visi- version 2.0 [11]. The original work was a tors, which manifests itself in their formal invitation to the site's visitors to Wireless Wearable Webcam fantasies, longings, and projections onto discover the cause of strange sounds that The recent proliferation of video surveil- the unknown place. On the Web, the live emanated from hidden nooks under the lance cameras prompted Steve Mann, images present a navigable “space” on the artist's “bed.” based at the University of Toronto, Cana- screen, which visitors can observe and spy The physical installation consisted of da, to propose “reflectionism” as a new on, transiting and composing the remote wooden structures that supported June's philosophical framework for questioning space in real time. As the stored and real- bed and created corners and nooks, folds social values [12]. His WearCam was built time images are juxtaposed on the screen, and textures and an atmosphere of reclu- out of two micro video cameras and com- they become composites of different his- sion that suggested that there was a lot to puter screens embedded in glasses. The torical situations and perspectives. The be unmasked. Five video cameras were sur- video cameras could wirelessly record and composition of the web page—an image veying the space, with a spot light attached transmit images of what Mann saw as well as being juxtaposed to and complemented by to them, and no attempt was made to receive images and other information (Fig. 2). an other, as well as constantly updated in deny the constant observation. The light The work was shown at MIT's Media real time—formalizes the dynamic move- moved around the camera, creating a play Lab in 1994 and was accessible on-line ment of “strangeness” that is created of shadows that insinuated forms and con- until September, 1996. The Web visitor through local and cultural references and tours. Each corner of this space became an could accompany Steve Mann and observe

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/002409401753521566 by guest on 01 October 2021 what he was seeing since the images the mirror ends up being observed. As Brazilian artist Eduardo Kac in August, grabbed by his device were sent to the Net Steve Mann says, “an example of the 1996, and presented at the Nexus Con- in real time. His visual journey “grabbed” authoritarianism of such watching cameras temporary Art Center in Atlanta as part of environments that were dominated by is found in those department stores where an exhibition titled “Out of the Bounds: surveillance cameras. These cameras were people are watched and treated not as New Work by Eight Southeast Artists.” It often hidden and registering people with- members of a community but prisoners in was also shown at Casa de Cultura Mário out their previous consent. The procedure a 'panoptic' society” [13]. His work Quintana during the 1st Biennial of Visual generated three works, Maybe Camera, intends to confront society with itself and Arts of Mercosul in Porto Alegre, from Probably Camera, and No Camera, where its own mechanisms, forcing it to perceive October to November, 1997. its own absurdity The installation consisted of a large [14]. According to aviary occupying part of the gallery and a Steve Mann, “the Web component, which allowed for most fundamental remote experience and intervention. Inside matter of this device the aviary were small gray zebra finches is, without any and a large colorful and immobile doubt, to empower macaw—a robot with miniature video the individual with cameras in the place of the eyes (Fig. 3). a ‘particular space of Visitors to the gallery could put on a head- information,’ cus- set that would “transport” them into the tomized, personal- aviary, viewing their surroundings (includ- ized, operated and ing themselves outside the cage) from the controlled by him- point of view of the macaw. self” [15]. Another Web visitors could also “share” the important aspect body of the macaw, not only as observers

Fig. 2. The Steve Mann web page showing the evolution of the Wireless Wear- tackled in this rela- but also through triggering the vocal appa- able Webcam device. tion and interface is ratus of the bird, thus making themselves the photographic heard within the gallery. People from dif- users can follow the live images on the Web memory that allows “everything” to be ferent locations could co-inhabit the same as observers of Steve Mann’s journey, shar- visually registered and stored in a database. physical body and remotely intervene in a ing his view on events, encounters, people, This memory can then be shared, in a col- physical space, subtly influencing the and objects. Another work by Mann, titled lective sense; in a collaborative way, indi- behavior of the birds inside the aviary and My Manager and inspired by Stelarc's works viduals can participate in the construction the people in the gallery. Kac created a in “Performance Art,” allowed the partici- of their consciousness and connect in a col- new, potentially omnipresent environment pants to become "managers" and con- lective humanistic intelligence. with telerobots, animals, remote and local tribute, via Radio TeleTYpe (RTTY), to the human interaction, providing different creation of a video documentary in an envi- SYNCHRONOUS EXCHANGE OF options for perception in places through- ronment that was under surveillance. INFORMATION out the world. The visitors' immediate Another work was the meta-documen- Video conference systems and CUSeeMe perceptions of their surroundings were tary Shooting Back. In addition to record- on the Web enable synchronous commu- coupled with an awareness of what affect- ing with the Wireless Wearable device nication between users, which can be ed them remotely, while the use of itself, Mann began to carry another camera established with exchanges of images via CUSeeMe was extended/expanded both and interviewed the people responsible for camera, texts via chat, audio and/or simple technically and aesthetically. the surveilled environment, asking them to file transfer. It is possible to connect to Alice Sat Here explain the reasons for the “presence” of people, expand professional relationships surveillance as an instrument of power. and social circles, and establish communi- In 1995, the artists Nina Sobell and Emily The recorded images were transmitted to a ties of interest. Without being subjected to Hartzell—in collaboration with engineers base station and remotely assembled geographical limits or the need for physical and system analysts of the Center for through a pencigraphic image compositing displacement, people can more efficiently Advanced Technology at New York Uni- algorithm. The resulting images presented manage time with the possibility of shar- versity—developed a device that consisted distortions of the space, constituting an ing and transforming data, information of a wheelchair equipped with a telerobot- aesthetic manipulation. and experiences in real time. ic camera that captured images, which In all of his works, Steve Mann ques- were transmitted live over the Web. Alice tions the use of surveillance cameras and Rara Avis sat here constituted a passage between the suggests the construction of a mirror. In a Rara Avis, a networked interactive telepres- physical space and cyberspace. According process of turning its own power against it, ence installation [16], was created by the to the artists, the work “intended to elimi-

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/002409401753521566 by guest on 01 October 2021 nate the limits of both spaces: the real and Some Web sites offer users the possibility tions in robot systems. Current informa- the metaphoric.” of manipulating a remote environment, tion technology has introduced new The installation was first shown at Ric- which is made present through live images. approaches to comprehension and mean- co/Maresca gallery in New York City. The intervention is made possible by ingful negotiation. Local participants could drive the means of physical devices, such as robots wheelchair while the remote visi- PRoPs (Personal Roving Presence) tors on the Web could control the This mechanical system, tele-oper- position of the camera that generated by Web users, was developed ated a real-time video, which could by Eric Paulos (Department of also be seen on a monitor in the Electrical Engineering) and John gallery and on a small monitor Canny (Computer Sciences) at the mounted on the throne's handle- University of California, Berkeley, bar. The monitor in the gallery in 1996 [19]. It produces a sensa- was surrounded by several touch- tion of "tele-embodiment" in a pads, which—when touched by remote physical space, enabling the gallery visitors—would also human performance in a series of direct the gaze of the telerobotic tele-activities by providing users camera. A tiny camera mounted with various opportunities for above this monitor captured the Fig. 3. Eduardo Kac's Rara Avis: the aviary from the visitor's movement and expression, such as image of the participant in the act perspective. Photo by Anna Yu. going for a walk, reading, listening, of controlling Alice. These images and talking. The system uses two of the gallery visitors were blended forms of presentation, a “blimp” with the images captured by the (space browser) and a surface cruis- camera on the wheelchair and the er, both tele-operated. resulting image was broadcast over The project isn’t aimed at por- the Web. People in the gallery traying human interactions in a could thus observe and manipulate realistic way but at identifying and the performance of the other local refining traces and inclinations of visitors, while the remote visitors human behavior that are inherent navigated on the paths defined by in our communication, under- the local ones. Participants in par- standing, as well as comprehension allel spaces shared perspectives and of and interaction with a space and re-designed spaces, their experi- other people. Through a live video, ences that were formalized in the one can usually see and hear what processing of the images sent to the Fig. 4. The interface of the Telegarden site through which the the remote partner places into the Web. Each participant controlled user can plant, water the flowers, and chat with the participants. field of vision of the camera; PRoPs some aspect of the respectively other gives the user a greater flexibility of environment, engaging in collabora- movements and autonomy when it tive action in this inter-space [17]. that are remotely manipulated by users. comes to making decisions about what to Robots' roles and functionalities are being see and hear. The participant’s image is transmitted REMOTE ACTION IN explored in different ways, and they are via a CCD screen to the remote space and DIFFERENT PHYSICAL frequently hybridized with other media, made available through a video or still SPACES systems, contexts and/or life forms [18]. All the sites described in the following image, thus creating the existence and The development of robotic technology in make use of a remote projection of human identity of the remote user through the telecommunication environments has action through a telerobot, which in turn transmission of gestures and facial expres- enabled transmission and reception of generates other dimensions of observation, sions. The capacity of the user to experi- movement as audio-visual information. operation, and control in a physical space. ence their own existence and actions Telepresence can transport an individual Some artists appropriate the technology in through PRoP constitutes a form of reflex- from one physical space to another, allow- order to reflect on cognitive processes in ivity [20]; partcipants can listen to them- ing for experimentation with remote envi- their interactive installations, for example selves or watch the actions that result from ronments in terms of immersion (virtual by exploring behaviors, relations over a their commands, which becomes an reality) or intervention (tele-robotics, tele- distance, the domain of movement, sys- important element in expanding the range operation). tems of evaluations, and recurring opera- of expressions in tele-embodiment.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/002409401753521566 by guest on 01 October 2021 Telegarden tions of their relationship to the medium. New Tactics for Deconstructing the Video Surveil- The use of webcams and tele-robotic devices lance Superhighway,” Leonardo 31, No. 2, pp. 93- In this tele-robotic installation, a natural 102 (1998). on communication networks allows for garden survives through the interventions 15. Steve Mann, “Wearable Computing as means for of a robot that is remotely operated by previously unexplored work processes and Personal Empowerment,” ICWC (1998). new forms of relationships with these Web visitors (Fig. 4). The project enables 16. Rara Avis, http://www.ekac.org/raravis.html devices and interfaces. This new synergy bet participants’ interaction over the Web and 17. The work is documented at http:// expands telepresence into the concept of ween humans, machines, and networks www.cat.nyu.edu/parkbench/alice/ and http:// on-line communities. The project was proposes new logical and poetic horizons, galt.cs.nyu.edu/~bacon/parkcode.html. developed by a team including Ken Gold- calling for a renewal of contents [22]and alt- 18. Eduardo Kac, “Origem e Desenvolvimento da berg, Joseph Santarramana, George Bekey, ering processes of perception, conception, and Arte Robótica,” Cadernos da Pós-Graduação 2, No. 2, pp. 18-28 (1998). Steve Gentner, Rosemary Morris, Carl creation as well as learning and intervention. 19. PRoPs, http://www.prop.org/ Sutter, Jeff Wiegley and E. Berger. The installation was developed at the REFERENCES 20. Eric Paulos, John Canny, “PRoP: Personal Rov- ing Presence,” ACM SIGCHI Conference on 1. Paul Virilio, O Espaço Crítico e as Perspectivas do University of Southern California and went Human Factors in Computing Systems (1998). Tempo Real (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Editora 34, 1993). on-line in June 1995. In 1996 it was inst- 21. Telegarden, http://telegarden.aec.at alled at the Ars Electronica Center (Linz, 2. Eduardo Kac, "Telepresence Art," Teleskulptur 3, pp. 48-72 (1993). 22. Gilbertto Prado, “As Redes Artísticas Austria), where it resides until today [21]. Telemáticas,” Imagens 3, pp. 41-43 (1994). 3. Ken Goldberg, "Virtual Reality in the Age of While the navigation through the Web Telepresence," Convergence: The Journal of Research site mostly happens as a solitary, personal into New Media Technologies 4, No.1 (1998). Luisa Paraguai Donati is a Ph.D. student act, the project is aimed at reducing this 4. Paul Virilio, "A Imagem Virtual Mental e Instru- feeling of solitude by simultaneously mental," Imagem Máquina: A Era das Tecnologias do at the Department of Multimedia, Institute of Arts, Unicamp, and studied engineering enabling virtual encounters. Meetings of Virtual (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Editora 34, 1993), pp.127-132. at the University of São Paulo. As reseacher communities usually require that the same 5. Marshall McLuhan, Os meios de comunicação como of the wAwRwT Project, she has investigated physical environment is shared but on the extensões do homem (São Paulo, Brazil: Cultrix, the construction of new artistic spaces of Internet, the space-time barriers are tran- 1995). creation and intervention on the Web. She scended. Telegarden is an experience of 6. Luisa Paraguai Donati, Gilbertto Prado, "Experi- has presented several papers at national and digital community, where Web visitors can mentações artísticas com Webcam," Cadernos da Pós- international conferences in art and tech- establish social relationships through the Graduação 2, No.2, pp. 35-43 (1998). nology. Her work titled Incorpos process of nurturing a physical environ- 7. Luisa Donati, “O uso e as implicações de câmeras (http://wawrwt.iar.unicamp.br/INcorpos/i de vídeo na rede Internet,” Master Degree Disserta- ment, engaging in rituals and constructing ndex.htm) was recently included in the fol- tion (Campinas, Brazil: Unicamp, 1999). hierarchies and social layers. lowing exhibitions: II Bienal do Mercosul, 8. Play on the Portuguese words: colunista (colum- Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, 2000; and Elec- nist), coluna (spine) and colunável (celebrity). tronic Art Exhibition - SIBGRAPI2000, CONCLUSION 9. After Tourism comes Colunismo, http:// Gramado, RS, Brazil, 2000. In the space mediated by the live, syn- wawrwt.iar.unicamp.br/colunismo/colunismo.html chronous image—be it personal, artistic, 10. In the technological context of the Net, the need Multimedia artist Gilbertto Prado studied or professional—people begin to exist on for discussion and critical reading of these artistic spaces manifests itself in a profusion of different engineering and visual arts at the State the threshold between the real and the vir- manifestations. The objective of the wAwRwT pro- University of Campinas, Brazil. In 1994, tual, “being dislocated” without leaving ject is the creation of artistic works on the Internet as he obtained his doctoral degree in arts at home and re-inventing themselves as they well as reflection on the technological poetics privi- leging the telematic artistic dimension. In addition, it the University of Paris I - Sorbonne. His become an active member of a community intends to chronicle how the new technologies influ- work has been included in several art exhi- that is technologically established through ence the construction of these new artistic spaces. bitions in Brazil and abroad. Currently, he the exchange of images, audio, and text. Web site: http://wawrwt.iar.unicamp.br. is a professor at the Department of Visual These encounters make the “other place” 11. Ghost Watcher, http://www.ghostwatcher.com/ Arts at the ECA/USP Communication and cgi-bin/gw/home.pl viable through communities of interest Arts School at the University of São Paulo (http://wawrwt.iar.unicamp.br/gilbertto/gil rather than the sharing of the same physi- 12. Wireless Wearable Webcam, http://www.wearcam.org bertto.htm). cal space, thus making cyberspace a place 13. The concept of the “panopticon” was developed by Jeremy Bentham. It originally was a concept for a for human relationships where it becomes prison where the individual cells would be arranged An earlier version of this paper was presented at the possible to formalize experiences of simul- in a circle around a central surveillance tower, which third Creativity and Cognition Conference, Lough- taneously “being” several people in differ- allowed the guards to constantly watch their prisoners. The most important effect of this architectural borough University, U.K., 10 -13 October 1999, ent places and of speed and interactivity as project was that the prisoners felt observed even and published in the Proceedings (ACM Press, propelling elements of events. without the physical presence of a guard. See A. New York, ISBN: 1-58113-078-3). The possibility of remote intervention Machado, Máquina e Imaginário: O desafio das Poéti- cas Tecnológicas (São Paulo, Brazil: USP,1993). in physical spaces accentuates the possibili- This research was supported by FAPESP, Fundação de 14. Steve Mann, “Reflectionism and Diffusionism: ty of transforming the participants’ percep- Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil.

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