"VERBARIUM"
developed for the CARTIER Foundation, Paris
(c) 99, Christa SOMMERER & Laurent MIGNONNEAU
online work click here: verbarium
supported by IAMAS International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences,
Japan
JAVA programming support: Isato Kataoka
Concept:
VERBARIUM is an interactive text-to-form editor on the Internet. At
the VERBARIUMÕs web site, on-line user can choose to write text messages
and each of these messages functions as a genetic code to create a visual
three-dimensional form. A special text-to-form editor ensures the genetic
encoding of text characters (=letters) into design functions. It provides
constantly new images that are not any more pre-defined by the artist but
instead develop in real-time through the interaction of the user with the
system. Each different message creates a different form. Depending on the
composition of the text, the forms can either be simple or complex, or
abstract or organic. All text messages together are used to build a collective
and complex three-dimensional image. This image is like a virtual herbarium,
composed of the various forms based on the different text messages (i.e.,
verbs), hence the name VERBARIUM.
On-line users do not only help to create and develop this virtual VERBARIUM,
but also have the option of clicking any part within the collective image
to retrieve messages sent earlier by other users.