Rara Avis

Erik Lesser
Source: Erik Lesser

Eduardo Kac

Rara Avis ,
Co-workers & Funding
EPIDEMIC: Richard Castelli Co-Worker: Toshinori Kondo
Documents
  • Rara Avis
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  • Rara Avis
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Description
The work “Rara Avis” (1996) of Eduardo Kac consists of a large cage, in which thirty real birds (zebra finches) and a telerobot, which looks like a rare bird, take place. In the macaw’s eyes are installed two cameras with Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD). These allow the visitors of the aviary, through a data helmet, to experience the environment from the bird’s eye perspective. According to Kac “Since the macaw's eyes were on the front of the head, as is the case of an owl, the telerobot was called a Macowl” (http://www.ekac.org/raraavis.html). Moving their heads, while wearing the data helmet, the visitors trigger a simultaneously moving of the head of the macaw. The visitors, which are in front of the cage, are being transported inside the cage, viewing through the data helmet including the observation of themselves outside of the cage. The participants, who are present in front of the installation, can see from the telerobot’s eye perspective, but also the participants who are online can have the same view. According to Kac “Network technology and local ecology mutually affected one another. I expected that the small birds would be frightened with the big colorful robot. However, in fact they became so comfortable with it that they excreted all over it throughout the exhibition. This unique combination of organic waste and clean electronics furthered a sense of integration between carbon and silicon. The body of the telerobotic Macowl was shared in real time by local participants and Internet participants worldwide” (Eduardo Kac, “Dialogical Telepresence and Net Ecology”, pp. 180 - 196, in: Goldberg, Ken (Ed.), The Robot in the Garden, Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2000, p. 187). Interaction here in form of an intimate communication (the human can see through the bird’s eye) offers among others also an intimate relation between participants and the motif of the bird (online and offline). (Penesta Dika)
Keywords
  • aesthetics
    • immersive
    • installation-based
    • interactive
    • uncanny
  • genres
    • installations
      • interactive installations
  • subjects
    • Nature and Environment
      • animals
Technology & Material
Installation Requirements / Space
Rara Avis (1996) linked the gallery to the Internet with interactive conferences and cybercasts via CU-SeeMe, the Web, and the MBone.
Bibliography