Televirtual Fruit Machine

Televirtual Fruit Machine, Screen
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Televirtual Fruit Machine, Installation
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Televirtual Fruit Machine, Installation
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The Televirtual Fruit Machine
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The Televirtual Fruit Machine
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The Televirtual Fruit Machine
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The Televirtual Fruit Machine
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Televirtual Fruit Machine
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Televirtual Fruit Machine
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This computer graphic installation is a telematic adaptation of THE FRUIT MACHINE (1991). The work connects remote locations to enable simultaneous imaging and real time interaction to take place between both sites where the work is installed. It introduces the form of an artwork where viewers who are physically separated from each other can share an aesthetic figuration in the televirtual space.

At each location the viewer interacts with the computer generated image using a multi-axis interface (joystick), which is on a column in front of a large projection screen. Each viewer sees the result of their own actions on the screen, and also the result of the other user's actions at the remote location. In front of the viewer there is also a small videophone, which enables the two viewers to see and talk to each other - this amplifies the social dimension that accompanies the visual interactivities.

The computer-generated image is a spherical object that is divided along a curved line into two parts. The two operators using their respective joysticks can separately manipulate each part in the televirtual space. The outer surface of this spherical object carries images of various fruit, and the inner surface shows a geographical map of the world. The two users coordinate and control the movement of the image parts so as to bring them together and join the fruits, and when they succeed an outpouring of virtual coins rewards them.

(A. Hegedüs)