"conFIGURING the CAVE", an immersive installation for the CAVE

"conFIGURING the CAVE" is an interactive computer graphics installation developed for the CAVE™ technology. In this special virtual environment for real-time visualization, high-resolution stereoscopic images are projected onto three walls and onto the floor of a specially constructed cubic room. Several users enter the installation simultaneously. Eight loudspeakers are positioned in the corners of the room. "conFIGURING the CAVE" is one of the first works to make artistic use of the CAVE™ technology.

"Configuring the CAVE" opens up seven audiovisual worlds that the user can explore through 3D glasses. The user interface is an almost life-size wooden doll in the center of CAVE™s. The interactive function of the puppet varies in each of the seven projected environments: the user has to explore the different parameters of the image worlds on his own. The shape of the puppet is based on the articulated puppets used in the traditional arts for studies of proportion, among other things. Their movable joints, which are equipped with electronic sensors, can be manipulated: The user can tilt their head, move their limbs and rotate them both horizontally and vertically. The movements of the doll, its postures and individual limbs are analysed, compared with given postures and influence the shape of the computer-generated image space. At the same time, the sound space is transformed synchronously and in real time. The user can make the individual audiovisual sound and image environments follow one another by covering the doll's eyes with his hands.

Commissioned work for NTT InterCommunication Centre (ICC), Tokyo, JP

Production staff
Concept: Jeffrey Shaw, Bernd Lintermann, Agnes Hegedüs
Project management: Jeffrey Shaw
Music: Leslie Stuck
Application software: Bernd Lintermann
Production management: Boctok Tokyo and David D'Heilly, with the support of ZKM | Institute for Visual Media
Production assistance: Christina Zartmann, Jan Gerigk, Manfred Hauffen
Motion analysis for music: Jonathan Bachrach