[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
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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/
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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
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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
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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
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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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