»Liquid Views« 
Light Box
Light Box
© Fleischmann & Strauss; fleischmann-strauss.de
Keywords
Information
(collective) Monika Fleischmann | Wolfgang Strauss >
»Liquid Views«, 1992 - 2022
Co-Workers & Funding:
Christian A.Bohn, Jörg Lange, K.G. Rautenberg directed by Monika Fleischmann und Wolfgang StraussProduced at VISWIZ / GMD Gesellschaft für Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung
Fleischmann-strauss.de
Technology
Method
The algorithm of the imaging mechanism of Liquid Views is effective on three levels: First, it is a program for generating the waves through physical simulation based on a physical algorithm and on an artificial neural network that makes the water look as if it were real. The wave algorithm also serves to distort the texture coordinates of the camera image according to the flow of the waves. Second, it is a program for reading the video stream from the camera into the wave texture, and third, a routine for reading the touchscreen signals into the wave generator.IHardware
Interactive Installation with Touchscreen, PC, Windows XP, (originally SGI), Individual software, loudspeaker, camera, projection screen. Web GL Online Version using tablet since 2023.
SPACE: Variable installation dimensions
Descriptions & Essays
Monika and Wolfgang Fleischmann-Strauss 28-08-2023
LIQUID VIEWS : OVID'S METAMORPHOSIS AS WAVE ALGORITHM 1992
Liquid Views (1992) is an interactive installation showing a virtual water surface that reflects the viewer's image. A touch screen with a miniature camera simulates water and mirrors the image of the approaching viewer. As soon as the viewer touches the screen, algorithms are activated to amplify the artificial waves, and the viewer's reflection dissolves. In this way, the integrity of the looking glass is disrupted. As soon as the viewer stops touching the surface, the water becomes tranquil, and the reflection reappears. With this work, the audience participates in a Narcissus experience that can be captured in virtual memory as a kind of automatic selfie, so to speak.
The unpredictability of the artificial wave algorithm in Liquid Views symbolizes the Internet. Whoever touches the water leaves traces that can be traced back. People are seen by others without realizing it. The mirrored face of the participant is presented on a large projection, turning the introverted gaze into a public spectacle. The interacting people look up and perceive themselves from a different perspective. It is like a glance from the outside, behind the mirror, into another world. In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Alice steps through a mirror into a world of dreams. Orpheus also passes through a liquid mirror in Jean Cocteau's film Orphée (1949). Beyond the mirror lies the realm of the dead, where time is endless.
Liquid Views connects the real world with the virtual world, as an interplay of image within image. In each of the more than 30 countries where Liquid Views was exhibited since 1992, cultural differences were noticed in the way visitors interacted with the installation. In Mexico, reverently; in Los Angeles, playfully; in Madrid, many couples kissed in front of the water mirror; in Paris, some men didn't think they were beautiful enough to see themselves. In Japan, people compared the Narcissus mythology to the story of the little sun Amaterasu. Today, the situation is no longer observed and reflected upon as it was back then. Since 2007, everyone immediately pulled out their smartphone and takes photos of themselves. Now the moment is captured for one's own social media archive. Reflection is postponed until later.
Liquid Views anticipates the selfie moment, in which the image and the self are increasingly difficult to parse. Here, the digital medium is camera, mirror and archive in one. It records us, mirrors us and stores us. Screen and camera are on one and the same level. The structure of Liquid Views from 1992 already anticipates partly the interface of the Apple iPhone from 2007.
Monika and Wolfgang Fleischmann-Strauss: Liquid Views, 28-08-2023, in: Archive of Digital Art LIQUID VIEWS : OVID'S METAMORPHOSIS AS WAVE ALGORITHM 1992
Liquid Views (1992) is an interactive installation showing a virtual water surface that reflects the viewer's image. A touch screen with a miniature camera simulates water and mirrors the image of the approaching viewer. As soon as the viewer touches the screen, algorithms are activated to amplify the artificial waves, and the viewer's reflection dissolves. In this way, the integrity of the looking glass is disrupted. As soon as the viewer stops touching the surface, the water becomes tranquil, and the reflection reappears. With this work, the audience participates in a Narcissus experience that can be captured in virtual memory as a kind of automatic selfie, so to speak.
The unpredictability of the artificial wave algorithm in Liquid Views symbolizes the Internet. Whoever touches the water leaves traces that can be traced back. People are seen by others without realizing it. The mirrored face of the participant is presented on a large projection, turning the introverted gaze into a public spectacle. The interacting people look up and perceive themselves from a different perspective. It is like a glance from the outside, behind the mirror, into another world. In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Alice steps through a mirror into a world of dreams. Orpheus also passes through a liquid mirror in Jean Cocteau's film Orphée (1949). Beyond the mirror lies the realm of the dead, where time is endless.
Liquid Views connects the real world with the virtual world, as an interplay of image within image. In each of the more than 30 countries where Liquid Views was exhibited since 1992, cultural differences were noticed in the way visitors interacted with the installation. In Mexico, reverently; in Los Angeles, playfully; in Madrid, many couples kissed in front of the water mirror; in Paris, some men didn't think they were beautiful enough to see themselves. In Japan, people compared the Narcissus mythology to the story of the little sun Amaterasu. Today, the situation is no longer observed and reflected upon as it was back then. Since 2007, everyone immediately pulled out their smartphone and takes photos of themselves. Now the moment is captured for one's own social media archive. Reflection is postponed until later.
Liquid Views anticipates the selfie moment, in which the image and the self are increasingly difficult to parse. Here, the digital medium is camera, mirror and archive in one. It records us, mirrors us and stores us. Screen and camera are on one and the same level. The structure of Liquid Views from 1992 already anticipates partly the interface of the Apple iPhone from 2007.
Literature
Smolińska, Marta. »The Narcissus Effect.« [<03.09.2023>].
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss. »Liquid Views and the Unconscious Perception.« In Analyzing Art, Culture, and Design in the Digital Age, edited by Gianluca Mura,Vol.http://www.irma-international.org/chapter/liquid-views-and-the-unconscious-perception/138525/. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297766942_Liquid_Views_and_the_Unconscious_Perception, , 8 pages. Politecnico di Milano University, Italy: IGI Global, IRM press, 2015.
Hansen, Mark. Bodies in Code: interfaces with digital media. New York: Routledge, 2007.
Fleischmann, Monika. »Die Spur des Betrachters im Bild.« Vom Tafelbild zum globalen Datenraum 1, no. ISBN 3-7757-1077-9 (June 2001): 138 - 149.
Joyce, Michael. Other Mindedness: The Emergence of Network Culture. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2000.. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000.
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss and Christian Bohn. »Liquid Views.« In Deep Storage, edited by Ingrid Schaffner and Matthias et.al. Winzen. München, London, New York: Prestel, 1998.
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss. »mages of the Body in the House of Illusion.« In Art and Science., edited by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau. Vienna: Springer, 1998.
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss and Christian Bohn. »Liquid Views.« In Interaction ´97, edited by I. Sakane. Gifu: Ogaki, 1997.
Fleischmann, Monika and Christian Bohn and Wolfgang Strauss. »Visiones liquidas, el espejo virtual de Narciso.« In Contaminaciones: del videoarte al multimedia, edited by Jorge La Ferla. Buenos Aires: Libros del Rojas, 1997.
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss. »The Body as an Interface.« DOMUS: Magazin for Architecture Design Art Communication 779 (Februar 1996 1997).
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss. »Die getäuschten Sinne.« ifa Zeitschrift für Kulturaustausch, Neue Medien und internationale Kulturbeziehungen 2 (January 1996).
Fleischmann, Monika and Christian-A. Bohn and Wolfgang Strauss. »Liquid Views.« In Press/Enter, edited by . Toronto, CAN: 1995.
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss. »The Body as Interface and Representation.« In Tight Rope, edited by . Saar: 1995.
Bohn, Christian and Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss. »Liquid Views.« In Revue virtuelle - The Virtual Body, edited by Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris: 1994.
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss. »Rigid Waves, Liquid Views.« In InterCommunication Catalogue, Interactive Art, edited by ICC. Tokyo, Japan: NTT Publishing Co., 1994.
Fleischmann, Monika and Christian Bohn and Wolfgang Strauss. »Liquid Views.« In Arte Virtual, edited by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Madrid, ESP: Electa Edition, 1994.
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss. »Illusions of Reality and Virtuality.« In Techno-Culture Matrix, edited by , 84-85. Tokyo, Japan: ICC - NTT Tokyo, 1994.
Penny, Simon. »Machine Culture: The Virtual Frontier.« In SIGGRAPH ´93 Proceedings, edited by Simon Penny. Anaheim, CAL: 1993.
Fleischmann, Monika and Wolfgang Strauss and Christian Bohn. »Rigid Waves - Liquid Views.« In Machine Culture; Visual Proceedings of Siggraph '93, edited by Simon Penny. Anaheim, LA: 1993.
Exhibitions & Events
2013
Exhibition :
2011
Exhibition :
1993
Exhibition :