Virtual Technology and Remote Observation over the Internet for Art Applications

In this paper, we give an overview of some advanced computer applications developed in the Computer Vision Laboratory which we used in several art presentations and art installations on the Internet. Already in 1995 we presented on the Internet the Slovenian Virtual Gallery which was a typical first generation web multimedia presentation consisting of an interconnected set of texts, images, and video clips. An alternative way of exploring this set was by “walking” through a virtual gallery space. This multimedia concept, in combination with our module for video observation over the Internet, was later used by the video artist Srečo Dragan for several of his art-Internet installations. By adding the possibility to get real-time video from any physical point, which can be connected to the Internet, one can effectively blend actual and virtual spaces.