MICHAEL NAIMARK

BIOGRAPHY

Undergraduate degree in cybernetic systems

Has explored place representation for 25 years, working with cinematography, interactive systems, and immersive projection.

A member of the Society for Visual Anthropology

Helped found prominent research labs like: MIT Media Lab (1980)

Atari Reseach Lab (1992)

Apple Multimedia Lab (1987)

Lucasfilm Interactive (1989)

Interval Research Corporation (1992)

Some of his work is permanently featured in the American Museum of the Moving Image, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and the ZKM | Center for the Arts and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Currently holds a Research Associate Professor position in the Interactive Media Division at the University of Southern California‟s School of Cinematic Arts.

Coined the terms Google Jockey, and Google Feeling Lucky List.

Resides in NYC with his wife, French media artist Marie Sester.

ASPEN MOVIEMAP | 1978 – 80INTERACTIVE VIDEODISC SYSTEM |ARCHITECTURE MACHINE GROUP, MIT

Seminal Hypermedia Project – virtual tour of Aspen, Colorado

First interactive moviemap produced at MIT gyroscopic stabilizer with 16 mm stop-frame cameras was mounted on top of a camera car every 10 feet.

Filming would occur daily from 10 AM to 2 PM (to minimize lighting difference)

The camera car drove down the center of the street, creating a travel footage from registered match-cuts, and collecting sound, and other data.

The playback required laserdisc players, a computer, and a touch screen display.

Wide-angle lenses employed.

Prototype of Google Street View

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EYEPIECE | 1979-83FILM INSTALLATION |CENTER FOR ADVANCED VISUAL STUDIES, MIT

16 mm film installation

Image of human eye projected on a rear-screen dome to become 3D

Uses an abstract version (using Ed Tannenbaum‟s realtime image processor) of a raw footage of human eyeballs

Abstract version is called Computer Eyepiece

Both the raw Eyepiece and the processed Computer Eyepiece have been exhibited as a site-specific component

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DISPLACEMENTS | 1980-84 | 2005 FILM PROJECTED ON LIVING ROOM PAINTED WHITE |SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

Immersive film installation

Archetypal Americana living room in which two performers were filmed with a 16mm motion picture camera on a turntable

The footage was then projected onto the walls of the room after it had been painted white

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ILLUSTRATION LIBRARY WORKSTATION

1984 | VIDEO | ATARI RESEARCH

Early attempt to visualize the potentials of the personal multimedia workstation

Example for the National Geographic Society

Months of negotiations between NGS and Atari to produce a larger project ended with the closing of Atari

PARIS VIDEOPLAN | 1986MOVIEMAP FROM THE AIR | EXPLORATORIUM, SAN FRANCISCO

Commissioned by RATP (Paris Metro) to map the Madeleine district of Paris from a pedestrian point of view (sidewalk)

Stop frame 35 mm camera mounted on electric cart

1 frame every 2 meters

Encoder on one of cart‟s axles

Mine employed at intersections to point direction

Idea was to substitute match-cuts with cinematic continuity

Playback at kiosk at Madeleine Metro Station

Prototype of future Google Pedestrian View?

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EAT| 1989VIRTUAL DINING | SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE

Installation about consumption

Short single-user experience where one sits formally at a dining table, orders the food from a live waiter, and „virtually eats‟ by pressing a red button labeled eat

Produced by students

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VIRTUALITY, INC.| 1990VIDEO | SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE

Another project produced by students taking Naimark‟s “Immersive Virtual Environments” class

3rd video: prototype idea of Nintendo Wii

http://www.naimark.net/projects/virtuality/virtuality_v1.html

http://www.naimark.net/projects/virtuality/virtuality_v2.html

http://www.naimark.net/projects/virtuality/virtuality_v3.html

FIELD RECORDING STUDIES| 1992-93DIMENSIONALIZED MOVIES | BANFF CENTRE FOR THE ARTS, CANADA

Study 1: Landscape recorded on video by panning camera manually

Still frames selected to compose panorama or moviemap

Wireframe produced

Pictures chosen texture mapped

Prototype of Google Earth 360 layer and Street View

Study 2: Camera-based images mapped onto hand-shaped surfaces in

computer 3-space

Virtual Relief projections

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BE NOW HERE| 1995-973D PANORAMA INSTALLATION| INTERVAL RESEARCH AND UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE CENTER, PARIS

Installation about landscape and public places

3d glasses provide immersive virtual environment

Images from UNESCO‟s endangered places list like Jerusalem, Dubrovnik, Timbuktu, and Angkor

Ambient, live style

35 mm motion-picture camera (one for each eye) mounted on rotating trypod

Input pedestal allows choosing location and time

Stereoscopic projection screen

Four-channel audio

16-foot rotating floor

Extension of other media trajectories such as Lumiere brothers projections and 3-screen triptychs of Abel Gance‟s Napoleon in 1927

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DIMENSIONALIZATION STUDIES| 1994-98DIMENSIONALIZED MOVIES| INTERVAL RESEARCH

Informal collaboration between computer vision researchers and those building the stereoscopic camera rig for the See Banff Kinetoscope project

Depth information from stereoscopic pairs of images

Turning 2d into 3d points in space

Non-semantic: the computer has no information of the scene‟s contents

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ARS ELECTRONICA T+25 TIMELINE| 2004PREDICTIONS WEBSITE| ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL, LINZ, AUSTRIA

Work produced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ars Electronica themed “Timeshift: The World in 25 Years.”

Two timelines produced: one looking back 25 years, and another forward

T-25 was chronological and included history of Ars Electronica and events related to art, technology and society

T+25 was a web based experiment in collective predictions.

2005-2029 – anyone can enter any prediction

CHEAP FAST GIGAPIXEL IMAGES| 2005STUDENT WORKSHOP PROJECT | ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN, PASADENA

Wall-sided mural entirely from a standard video

Camera in the same location, and shots at different times during the day

Standard miniDV video camcorder

2 attempts

30,000 by 7,000 pixel image made from 480 x 640 pixel stills (1.1 GigaBytes total)

80 +1 A JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD| 200981 DAY EVENT | LINZ MAIN SQUARE, AUSTRIA

Uses network technologies to bring to Linz immersive 3D experiences, real-time forums, student-to-student collaborations, and “LiveBits”

Will tap the power of the internet, particularly the Blogosphere

20 topics (from Aging to Water) and 20 locations around the world, including the „Internet‟