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SEE BANFF! is an interactive stereoscopic installation.
It bears a strong - and intentional - resemblance to an Edison kinetoscope,
which made its public debut one hundred years ago in April 1894.
It achieved instant popularity, but was short-lived. One and a half
years later, in December 1895, the Lumiere brothers publicly exhibited
projected film, and cinema as we know it was born. The kinetoscope
became a transitionary symbol during a turbulent era in the media
arts.
Physically, SEE BANFF! is a self-contained unit about the
size of a podium, made out of walnut and brass, with a viewing hood
on top and a crank on the side, as well as a selector for chosing
one of the silent "views."
These views were filmed around Banff and rural Alberta in autumn
1993. They were recorded with two stop-frame 16mm film cameras mounted
on a "super jogger" baby carriage. Stereoscopic recording
was either triggered by an intervalometer (for timelapse) or by
an encoder on one of the carriage wheels (for dollys and moviemaps).
Since the filming was "stop-frame" (rather than "real-time"),
time and space appear compressed.
The imagery is part of an investigation of the role of media and
its relationship to landscape, tourism, and growth. Recordings were
made dollying along waterfalls, glaciers, mountains, and farmland;
moviemapping up and down popular natural trails; and timelapsing
tourists.
SEE BANFF! looks and feel like a real kinetoscope. Turning
the crank allows the user to browse back and forth, to "move
through," the material.
Video (0:30)
from "Field Recording Studies" (#3)
Art and Virtual Environments project,
The Banff Centre for the Arts
and the Immersion project,
Interval Research Corporation
Conceived and Directed by
Michael Naimark
Executive Producers
Douglas MacLeod, Banff Centre for the Arts
David Liddle, Interval Research Corporation
Principal Collaborators
Film Production: Gilles Tassé, Banff
Video Post-Production: Charles Lassiter, Interval Research
Software and Optics: Christoph Dohrmann, Interval Research
Interface Electronics: Robert Alkire, Interval Research
Cabinetry and Mechanics: Robert Adams, Interval Research
Technical Assistance: Scott Wallters, Interval Research
Special Cabinetry: Andy Hope, Piranha Design, San Francisco
Special Mechanics: Mark Pauline, Survival Research Labs, San Francisco
Additional Collaborators
CANADA
Banff Centre: Lorne Falk, John Harrison, Cathy McGinnis, Mary Anne
Moser
Roy Cross, Banff; James Martin, Canadian National Parks Service,
Banff; Mireille Perron, Alberta College of Art, Calgary; Capital
Film Lab, Edmunton; Studio Post, Edmunton; Banff Lifts Ltd., Banff;
Columbia Icefields Tours, Banff; Whyte Museum, Banff
UNITED STATES
Interval Research: Aviv Bergman, Lee Felsenstein, David Gessel,
Noël Hirst, Jason Lewis, Carol Moran, Steve Saunders, Chris
Seguine, Andrew Singer, Richard Shoup, Rachel Strickland, Bill Verplank,
Cedric Whigham, John Woodfill, Ramin Zabih
Thomas Cockrill, Byron Antiques, Byron, CA; Judith Donath, MIT Media
Lab, Cambridge; Lisa Goldman, Interactive Media Festival, San Francisco;
L. H. Lassiter, M.D., Miller Eye Center, Chattanooga; Daniel Zelinsky,
Musee Mecanique, San Francisco; Allied Diner Film and Video, San
Francisco; Monaco Film Labs, San Francisco; Western Images, San
Francisco; Exploratorium, San Francisco; San Francisco Art Institute
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