Videoplace had developed by Myron Krueger from 1970s to 1980s. (According to wikipedia, Videoplace was a name of artificial reality laboratory.) The system of Videoplace works using projector, video cameras, hardware and screen to interpret the movement of users into images on the screen. Users can control the characters or draw lines to make an image on the screen. And users can also communicate and interact with another users in separate rooms through the silhouette on the screen. There are over 50 compositions and interactions of videoplace.

The movement of users transferred to graphic interface such as point(pixel, line, plane(silhouette), and color. By moving their full body, audiences participate in the work actively and produce images. It means that the role of audience changed from passive viewers who are just sitting and touching to active users who are using their whole body to produce images. Audiences become producers who create images by using interactive system that was developed by scientists and artists. In this work, audience can experience and  involve in an “artificial reality”.

In the essay written by Scott Fisher, I found the explanation that pointed out the change of the viewer’s role.

“A key feature of these display systems (and of more expensive simulation systems) is that the viewer’s movements are non-programmed; that is, they are free to choose their own path through available information rather than remain restricted to passively watching a ‘guided-tour’.”

–Scott Fisher, “Virtual Environments” 1989, Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality

Videoplace reminded me of 3D virtual drawing tool. Now we can draw 3 dimensional drawing in the space. The expansion from 2D plane on the computer screen to 3D void in the real space changes people’s experience and sense in both virtual reality and physical world.