NIGHTHAWKS 2005
I created “Nighthawks”, an interactive installation, which is inspired by the paintings of Edward
Hopper and by movie sets from that time. The 3D world from Nighthawks is similar to our everyday life, it takes us into a 3D painting, inside a diner where the
last clients share stories with Joe, the bartender; outside in the background is the street and New York skyscrapers.
Each element of the scene has a life of its own and from time-to-time these elements move and interact together.
Keywords:
Edward Hopper, painting, art history, 20th century american culture, Dos Passos, “Big Money”, non linear
fiction, interactive animation, autonomous agents, artificial intelligence, virtual cameras, mobile phone interface,
outdoor installation, urban screen.
Goal:
Nighthawks is a real-time 3D installation designed to immerse several players in a virtual world which recalls the
streets of New York City from the forties. This project is using virtual cameras in order to present multiple point of
views of a story taking place inside a virtual world.
Innovation:
Players dial from their mobile phone a number corresponding to one of the virtual actors. The virtual
space is designed to emphasize interactions between actors and to prevent them from getting lost. Viewers can watch
on the screen at all times the actions of the virtual actors. Players try to create meetings between virtual actors.
Each meeting between virtual actors triggers dialogues overlaid on the screen.
The installation is viewed in real-time by several virtual cameras. The players can control the camera manually or let a subjective camera take over. A top view of the installation, located in the bottom corner of the screen, will help players to control characters shown as color dots, while they are out of the camera's field of view.
Credits: Research, development, production, design - Jean-Marc Gauthier with the help of Miro Kirov and Fabien Bariti.
Funding: Le Cube, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Partnership: SIA Systemas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Festivals:
Nighthawks was created for the Festival 1er Contact, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
FILE 2005 Festival of Electronic Media, Sao Paolo, Brazil