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Rope in Space

Rope in Space

During Ars Electronica, in the main square of Linz, was set up the isle of the 80+1, A Journey Around the World. Most of the works featured shared the same idea of connecting locations in the world in real time with unusual approaches; from virtual handshakes to aroma transportation.

One of the exhibited pieces that cleared attracted people attention was the Rope in Space, conceptualized by the Ars Electronica Futurelab, a simulation of the "rope pulling" game but with the participants in different locations. One of the units was set up in the isle and the other one in the Ars Electronica Center (it could be in any other place in the world).

Besides the confusing graphic interface, the machine was so simple and appealing that is was impossible to not have fun with it. One would hold the rope at one side, until a opponent appears on the other side and the game can start, usually gathering a small crowd around. Quite often a completely stranger, seeing one of the participants disadvantage, would stand out and join the game, creating a light and entertaining environment for everyone.

Rope in Space may be perceived by one as only a high tech super expensive version of a 3,000 years old game; and this judgment would be complete valid. Though when we think in very nature of it as a web based interface that allows physical interactions we can see the great value that the piece stands for; it makes us think in how poorly we explore the virtual connections, that the internet can be much more than an exchanging of visual data, and the hyper-world can have form, weight and be touched by our own hands.

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ReBlogged by paulo barcelos on Sep 8, 2009 at 02:31 PM Posted by paulo barcelos on Sep 8, 2009 at 02:31 PM

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