virtual environments / game art
— modifications of computer games 1999-2008


▸ Virtual Environments (PDF)

Texts by: Anna Karina Hofbauer, Erkki Huhtamo, Joseph Squire, Nan Goggin, Karin Wenz, Daphne Dragona.




▸ IN NINTH HEAVEN Or The Far End of Europe 2008

In Ninth Heaven invites the visitors on a journey through the early European Baroque and late Chinese Ming/early Qing eras. Time, space, and gravity dissolve in an immersive experience in which vestiges of the past open onto a timeless horizon of cultural exchange. The audience experiences a virtual world that reflects (on) issues of identity, conformity, and transition, thus encouraging to question the notions of center and periphery, the familiar, and the unfamiliar, cultural exclusion and integration.  
Sylvia Eckermann

In Ninth Heaven 2008, installation view. In Ninth Heaven is based on a 3D real-time display system (Unity) integrated in a specially designed architecture.

▸ MIRROR CELLS | Spiegelzellen 2007

Mirror Cells is an interactive installation that turns around our perception of space and time. The gamers as well as the visitors are immersed inside an infinitely mirrored acousmatic-visual 3d-world. (UnrealMod)
Sylvia Eckermann

MIRROR CELLS | Spiegelzellen 2007, installation view

▸ n o w h e r e — ein Welt Raum Spiel 2005

Flying through space and time is a metaphor to reflect the intellectual world of The Crystal Chain, a group of architects and artists founded by Bruno Taut in 1919 to share utopian ideas by way of correspondence.
Users move freely in all directions of this virtual 3D-space. Architecture, sound, voice-over and images support an immersive effect. (UnrealMod)
Sylvia Eckermann

n o w h e r e — ein Welt Raum Spiel 2007, screen shot

▸ Börse  2006

A virtual knowledge space on the topic of global financial markets and exchanges.
(UnrealMod)
Sylvia Eckermann

Börse 2006, screen shot

▸ mirrage 2005

Sight-specific interactive feedback circuit. (UnrealMod)
Sylvia Eckermann

mirrage 2005, screen shot

▸ reservoir_bots 2004

Game Mod for audio-visual live performances. (UnrealMod)
Sylvia Eckermann

reservoir_bots 2004, screen shot

- fuchs-eckermann
Artistic cooperation with Mathias Fuchs:

▸ fluID - arena of identities 2003

Multi-user computer game that focusses on the process of identity formation in virtual spaces, through metaphors grounded in the relationships between players and avatars. (UnrealMod)
Sylvia Eckermann

fluID - arena of identities 2003, installation view

▸ FemCity  2003

Multi-user computer game for girls. FemCity is a simulation of a complex social and economic environment in which young women find themselves when they set out to design their future. (UnrealMod)
Sylvia Eckermann

FemCity 2003, screen shot

▸ Expositur — a virtual knowledge space 2001

A hyper-museum based upon a computer game.  (UnrealMod)
Sylvia Eckermann

Expositur 2001, screen shot

▸ Hotel Synthifornia 1999

In 1999, Sylvia Eckermann and Mathias Fuchs participated in the exhibition “Synreal: The Unreal Modification” (1999), curated by Konrad Becker, at Public Netbase in Austria. Their work ”Hotel Synthifornia” and modified Unreal level, is described as a mix between the interiors of Stanley Kubrick’s movie “The Shining” and the music from the Eagles's legendary song “Hotel California”.
Sylvia Eckermann

Hotel Synthifornia 1999, screen shot