[spectre] the worst of two continents

geert lovink geert@xs4all.nl
Sun, 5 Jan 2003 11:19:00 +1100


www.fabricat.com/CITYCL_WEB2003/CITYCLUSTER.html

OFFICIAL OPENING AND EXHIBIT OF CITYCLUSTER

       Official opening and exhibit of CityCluster:

       "From the Renaissance to the Gigabits Networking Age"

       A Virtual Reality & High Speed Networking Project


 Florence, December 2002--The Official opening on February 7th, 2003 will
 feature the mayor of the city of Florence On.le Leonardo Domenici, On.le
 Claudio Martini (RegioneToscana), On.le Elisabe tta Del Lungo (Provincia
 di Firenze) and other political and cultural representatives of both
 cities, Chicago and Florence, meeting in a networked virtual plaza which
 overlap the city of Chicago and Florence. Each guest from two remote sites
 will be represented by an avatar within the virtual environment and shake
 hands in a symbolic gesture of welcome.

 The opening will take place in real-time between Chicago and Florence
 across two Virtual Reality Networking platforms: the CAVET Display System
 located in the Electronic Visualization Lab at the Illinois University of
 Chicago, Chicago,USA; and the AGAVET Display System located in City Hall,
 Palazzo Vecchio Florence, Italy.

 Both platforms interconnect and run over high-speed networks, enabling
 local and remote the visitors to navigate, interact, and communicate with
 each other in real time through the avatars in a common virtual space.
 Passive and active stereoscopic glasses allow them to see in 3 dimensions.
 A simple tracked input device, "the wand," containing a joystick and 3
 buttons, allows the visitor to navigate through the VR space, to manipulate
 virtual objects and to interact with one another.

 Florence City Hall is supporting this cultural and scientific initiative
 in collaboration with the other local political institutions such us:
 Tuscany Region and Province of Florence. Institutions whose most
 distinguished representatives will also be present at the opening event:
 On.le Claudio Martini (Regione Toscana) and On.le Elisabe tta Del Lungo
 (Provincia di Firenze). All three institutions will be involved in the
 promotional and communication campaign.

 CityCluster - From the Renaissance to the Gigabits Networking Age- A
 Virtual Reality & High Speed Networking Project is an innovative
 technological artistic project in which Tele-Immersion, collaborative
 virtual reality, high speed networking, culture, history, communication
 and art are integrated into one unique piece. The visitors can experience
 a thrilling interactive journey departing from the time of the Renaissance
 until arriving to the super broadband Networking and Electronic Age,
 breaking the barrier of time and space in real time. For this project two
 Virtual Reality environments were created: Florence metaphorically
 represents the "Renaissance Age", the other related to Chicago representing
 the "Gigabits Age". Each virtual city is inhabited by a group of avatars:
 David, Venus, and Machiavelli in Florence, and Mega, Giga, and Nety in
 Chicago.

 The official opening will take place in Palazzo Vecchio, one of the most
 important historical buildings of the Renaissance, located in the center
 of Florence, where the city Major has his political and cultural offices.
 Palazzo della Signoria, or Palazzo Vecchio, as it appears today, is the
 result of at least three successive building stages between the 13th-16th
 centuries: the later restructuration carried out by Vasari, after the
 coming to power of Cosimo I de' Medici, who moved into the palace with
 his family. Although the palace today contains the offices of the City
 Council, much of it can still be visited.

 After the official opening the VR-Networking exhibit will open to the
 public, from Sunday 9th to Tuesday 11th, in the Museum of Palazzo Medici
 Riccardi. Constructed by the architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo who
 started building it in 1444 for Cosimo de' Medici, the museum of Palazzo
 Medici Riccardi is situated along a strategic point of the historic
 centre of Florence. It is one of the most prestigious and famous
 Renaissance buildings throughout Europe and hosts very special exhibit
 presentations. The press conference will take place on January 6th at the
 sala conferenze - Giunta Regionale Toscana, Florence, Italy.

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 Program February 2003

 Official opening - February 7th, 2003
 7:00 PM, [italian time], 11:00 AM [Chicago Time]
 Palazzo Vecchio - Florence City Hall, Florence, Italy
 Electronic Visualization Laboratory, UIC, Chicago, USA.

 Networked exhibit - February 9th-11th, 2003
 Museum of Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, Italy
 Electronic Visualization Laboratory, UIC, Chicago, USA.
 Press conference - February 6th, 2003
 Sala conferenza - Giunta Regionale Toscana, Florence, Italy

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 CREDITS

 - Author: Franz Fischnaller, Electronic Visualisation Lab (EVL),
 University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.

 http://www.fabricat.com/CITYCL_WEB2003/author.html

 - Lead technical advisor: Alex Hill, EVL, University of Illinois at
   Chicago, USA.

 - Producer and Project coordinator: F.A.B.R.I.CATORS, Milan, Italy.

 Partners:

 Electronic Visualisation Lab (EVL), University of Illinois at Chicago,
 USA Master in Multimedia, University of Florence, Italy;

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 CONTACTS:

 F.A.B.R.I.CATORS
 www.fabricat.com
 fabricat@galactica.it
 Florence City Hall
 Office of the Mayor of Florence
 Dr. Enzo Risso
 Responsable for the Communication

 ------------------------
 COMUNE DI FIRENZE

 Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, Firenze
 Phone: +39-055-27.68.024
 Fax: +39-055-26.16.751
 risso@comune.firenze.it
 Secretary: Angela Catalano
 Phone: +39-055-2616752
 Fax: +39-055-2768275
 http://www.comune.fi.it/

 ------------------------
 Giunta Regionale Toscana

 Assessore Dr. Chiara Boni
 Giunta Regionale Toscana
 Via Cavour, 18 - 50129 FIRENZE, Italy
 Phone: 055-438.4886
 Fax: +39-055-438.4887
 Secretary: Patrizia Barboncini
 p.barboncini@mail.regione.toscana.it
 c.boni@mail.regione.toscana.it

 ------------------------
 Press Contact:

 Dr. Daniele Pugliese
 tel. +39 055-4394714 e 055-4384826;
 d.pugliese@mail.regione.toscana.it
 Province of Florence
 l'Assessore alla Cultura, Turismo e Sport
 Dr. Elisabetta Del Lungo
 e.del.lungo@provincia.fi.it

 ------------------------
 Press Contact:

 Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Firenze.
 Dr. Valentino Fraticelli
 tel. +39 055-2760422 fax +39 055-276033;
 v.fraticelli@provincia.fi.it
 http://www.palazzo-medici.it/
 Master of Multimedia
 University of Florence, Italy
 Dr. Barbara Iraci
 tel. +39-055-2488.209 +39-055-674079
 fax +39-055-2488.321
 iraci@dsi.unifi.it

 ------------------------
 F.A.B.R.I.CATORS

 Via  Fratelli  Bronzetti # 6
 20129 Milan, Italy
 Phone: +39. 02. 70128233
 fabricat@galactica.it
 www.fabricat.com

 ------------------------
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 Sponsor of event in Florence: DELTA COMMUNICATION http://www.deltatlc.com/

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