Participatory Media

In virtual and interactive on-line programmes that have more and more cinematographic qualities (such as characters, narrative and game elements), new forms of art and media emerge. Sometimes these on-line worlds are combined with traditional media such as television. An example is The Garden, an on-line television project by John Wyver’s Illuminations for Channel 4. Four artists and new-media-makers present several virtual worlds and talk about ways to allow the audience to participate in art and media programmes. A look is also taken at the way in which television-makers are involved in creating these ‘worlds’ and how the different media augment each other. Douglas Gayeton directed the interactive version of Johnny Mnemonic and Big Brother. He also created Neurostatica, an on-line series for the Net and was creative director of Vanishing Point. Brian Boigon is head of the New Media Centre, Art Gallery of Ontario. He has been responsible for various Net programmes and cooperated with architect Peter Eisenman and David Cronenberg on Nerve Gate, a VRML museum. With Cronenberg he is now working on an on-line game that will form part of the latter’s latest film. Robert Tercek is head of Columbia TriStar Interactive, a department within Sony Pictures that is developing on-line entertainment. He produced the on-line games of Men in Black and Starship Troopers. Dirk de Wit worked for the Kunstencentrum STUC in Louvain as producer and programme-maker. He has been involved since 1996 with CONSTANT, an association for Art and Media, the producer of the new media/Internet project The Party.