2010.4 update ball state university

UPCOMING EVENTS
INTERMEDIA ARCHIVE TO OPEN IN GERMANY
The Breder Foundation archive (J. Fillwalk,
President) opens spring at Museum Ostwall - the
largest art museum in Germany. The archive
holds critical works in the history of Intermedia.
http://bit.ly/DortmundU & http://bit.ly/IDIA_HBF
IDIA @ CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
The IDIA is installing an interactive exhibition at
the Muncie Children’s Museum exploring the five
senses. Designed by students in our Immersive
Learning Seminar with Provost support - includes
custom electronics and software.
ORGINS OF LIFE PROJECT
Installation by Adam Brown, MSU and IDIA Fellow
and Dr. Robert Root-Bernstein, MacArthur Fellow.
John Fillwalk is on the project’s NSF advisory
board. The project is based on the 1953 Miller-Urey
experiment http://bit.ly/OriginsBrown
IDIALAB
INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL INTERMEDIA ARTS
BALL
STATE UNIVERSITY
virtual reality + hybrid arts + simulation + human computer interface
2010.4 UPDATE
IDIA LAUNCHES IN BLUE MARS
In November, Ball State University’s Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts (IDIA) launched a large-scale
virtual simulation project powered by Blue Mars, Avatar Reality’s 3D social world platform. Visitors to
the live 3D environment can virtually tour and examine realistic recreations of artifacts and artworks
in their original historical contexts, including sculptures at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International
Exposition in San Francisco and a centuries-old Buddha at a Japanese temple.
Adolph Weinman’s Rising Day in Blue Mars
IDIA’s premiere effort in Blue Mars showcases several examples of recent grant-supported research
projects. For example, students in IDIA’s Immersive Seminar in Virtual Worlds 3D laser-scanned
sculptures from the collection of Ball State’s Museum of Art, resulting in accurate and detailed
replicas within IDIA’s simulations.
Already Blue Mars is being used to share informational material for the likes of National Geographic
and the Smithsonian. With the platform still in its beta phase, IDIA is exploring various new ways
that it might be used, from learning and the arts to gaming. Through the use of such emerging
technologies, visitors to Blue Mars can virtually experience these important but long lost sites.
Future IDIA initiatives in Blue Mars will include the prototyping the 3D internet, shared media collaboration tools and the development of an open virtual campus for use by educators interested in
engaging the platform as an environment for learning.
1915 San Francisco World’s Fair in Blue Mars
“Avatar Reality is thrilled to have the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts at Ball State University use
our Blue Mars platform. The IDIA Lab’s innovative work is exactly the type of immersive content we
strive to support,” said Jim Sink, the CEO of Avatar Reality.
Avatar Reality was founded in 2006 by interactive entertainment visionaries Henk Rogers - best
known for introducing Tetris to the world - and Kazuyuki Hashimoto, former chief technology officer
of Squaresoft and vice president at Electronic Arts. Led by CEO Jim Sink, the Avatar Reality team
features industry veterans and world-class experts in casual, PC and console games, and virtual
worlds and economies.
The premiere projects can be viewed by downloading Blue Mars for free at
http://www.bluemars.com
Buddha at Byodo-in Temple in Blue Mars
IDIA Immersion Seminar students are designing a Microsoft Surface application for the BSU Museum of Art - and have recently
presented their project to the IBM Interactive team in Chicago via video-conference. Student designers Jonathon Strong, Matt
Wolak, and Giovanni Rozzi led the presentation to the IBM group which included IDIA Research Fellow Jeff Berg from IBM.
This project is supported by the Provost’s Immersive Learning Initiative. http://idialab.org/projects/39
IDIA @ MILAN INNOVATION FESTIVAL
John Fillwalk presented virtually at the Milan Innovation Festival, an international digital art round table, held October 9th,
2010 in Milan, Italy. He spoke on the impact of the arts, social media, Web 2.0 and multi-user virtual environment mash-ups discussing IDIA approaches to art, interface and design. http://www.innovationfestival.it/ and http://bit.ly/IDIA_MilanPanel
Other speakers included Jeffrey Schnapp from Stanford Humanities Lab and the Australian artist Stellarc.
IDIA SIGGRAPH ART WORK FEATURED IN GERMAN DESIGN MAGAZINE
Final Wisdom I, our interactive sensory poetry installation exhibited at SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles was featured in the
German design magazine Weave - an international print and online magazine for designers and developers of interactive
media. http://bit.ly/FinalWisdom_Weave then select the Weave0510 archive. Final Wisdom I, is a collaboration between
Donald Kuspit, Hans Breder, John Fillwalk, Jesse Allison and CC Brown.
INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD FOR VIRTUAL WORLD HERITAGE LAB
John Fillwalk was invited to serve on the international advisory board for the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory, specifically
its Hadrian’s Villa simulation project - a large scale virtual world recreation of Emperor Hadrian’s villa, including models of
terrain, roads, buildings, clothing, gardens and even weather systems. VWHL explores the use of the metaverse and emerging
technologies in simulating lost or threatened world heritage sites. http://bit.ly/IDIA_VWHL
IDIA INVITED TO JOIN SCIENCESIM VIRTUAL WORLD PROJECT
IDIA was invited to participate in ScienceSim, a virtual world for the high performance computing community involved in
creating the 3D internet. IDIA will contribute its design and research efforts in virtual worlds, mash-ups and hybrid reality within
this creative and scientific consortium. ScienceSim is maintained by the IEEE/ACM Super Computing conference committee and
Intel. http://bit.ly/IDIA_ScienceSim
IDIA FEATURED ON METANOMICS VIRTUAL WORLD TALK SHOW
“Immersive 3D virtual environments have placed a extraordinary palette directly into hands of the creatives, offering opportunity
for imagination and art ... artists have responded with a jubilant chorus of digital creations, few with greater virtuosity than John
Fillwalk, Director of the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts Lab, at Ball State University. He is himself a celebrated digital artist,
and provides the lead for his IDIA students, connecting the Lab’s work in digital art installations and exhibits around the globe,
as well as working with corporate partners and virtual world innovators” - Metanomics http://bit.ly/IDIA_Metanomics
TWEETS
• New YouTube and Flickr previews of IDIA simulation projects in Blue
Mars http://bit.ly/IDIA_YouTube and http://bit.ly/IDIA_FlickrPics
• BSU University Communications special interest feature on IDIA Lab.
Highlights current project and future directions in virtual worlds,
games and interfaces http://bit.ly/HeadedforMars
• IDIA Lab sponsors regular hands-on workshops on a variety of new
media arts topics. Current and past offerings are available to view
here: http://idialab.org/projects/42
• 3D laser-scanned point cloud movie of Indianapolis Monument
Circle by IDIA - capturing a precise record of historic landmarks
http://bit.ly/IDIA_IndyCircle
• BSU students enrolled in IDIA Lab Seminar in Virtual Worlds - laser
scanning art museum sculptures for Blue Mars
http://bit.ly/IDIA_LaserSeminar
• Joint press release by Avatar Reality and IDIA Lab on new IDIA
simulations in Blue Mars http://bit.ly/IDIA_ARLaunch
Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts | Ball State University | Muncie, IN 47306 | Office: (765) 285-7434 | Fax: (765) 285-0124 | http://idialab.org
IDIA IMMERSION SEMINAR STUDENTS PRESENT WORK TO IBM
About IDIA
THE INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL INTERMEDIA ARTS is a collaborative research and design studio, established as part of the Digital Exchange - the digital media
initiative at Ball State University’s Center for Media Design and funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc. IDIA Lab explores the intersections between art, science and
technology - employing technologies such as virtual reality, interactive media, simulation and human computer interface. Students, faculty and industry
partners engage in projects connecting to regional, national and international partners through this project-based learning center. The curricular centerpiece of
the IDIA is an immersive seminar in hybrid design that provides an experiential, project-based learning environment - investigating the forefront of
discourse in emergent media arts.
LAB