Michael Naimark
Biography:
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Born in 1952 - Detroit (51 years old)
He is known as a “pioneer of the first generation” of
immersive environments, along with Myron Krueger and
Jeffrey Shaw
He created a B.S. in “Cybernetic Systems” as an
independent major from the University of Michigan in
1974
Received an M.S. in Visual Studies and Environmental
Art from MIT in 1979
Teaching History:
He has held faculty positions at
 San Francisco Art Institute
 San Francisco State University
 California Institute of the Arts
 MIT
 University of Michigan
Career History:
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an independent media artist from 1980 to 1992, he
produced artworks in conjunction with
the Paris Metro
 the Exploratorium
 the ZKM (German center for art and media)
 the Banff Centre
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and consulted for companies including
Atari
 Lucasfilm
 Apple
 Panavision
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Interval Research
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From 1992-2001, he worked at Interval Research,
the billion-dollar think-tank founded (and funded
with $100 million) by Microsoft co-founder, Paul
Allen. At Interval, he didn't have to spend time
writing grant proposals and scraping for
dwindling NEA funds. He worked with 60 other
brilliant people -- from engineers and
programmers to clothing designers and artists.
Philosophy
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Naimark defines immersion as “the feeling of being
inside rather than outside”
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He focuses on public space immersion, where several
people are in a virtual space at the same time.
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He regards immersion that uses computer graphics
critically. He sees his panoramic landscapes as related to
landscape painting, ethnographic field work, and cinema
verite.
Aspen MovieMap
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His laser disc tour of Aspen,
Colo., ("Aspen Moviemap,"
1978-80), was one of the first
examples of interactive
multimedia. Aspen was filmed
at short intervals from a car
that was driven along all
possible fixed routes.
QuickTime™ and a Sorens on Video dec ompres sor are needed to see this pic ture.
Talking Head Projection (1979)
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used a moving faceshaped screen, mounted
in a pan-tilt gimbal,
whose movement was
driven by the actual
head movement of our
subject. This movement
was encoded and
recorded during filming,
along with image and
sound, on super8 film.
Eyepiece (1979)
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a 16mm film
installation, where
an image of a
human eye is
projected onto a
custom-made rearscreen dome, thus
become 3-D
Displacements (1984)
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An archetypal
Americana living room
was installed in an
exhibition space. Then
two performers were
filmed in the space
using a 16mm motion
picture camera on a
slowly rotating turntable
in the room’s center
Displacements (1984)
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After filming, the
camera was replaced
with a film loop
projector and the entire
contents of the room
were spray-painted
white. The reason was
to make a projection
screen the right shape
for projecting everything
back onto itself
Displacements (1984)
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The result was that
everything appears
strikingly 3D, except
for the people, who
of course weren’t
spray-paint white,
and consequently
appeared very
ghostlike and unreal
QuickTime™ and a Sorens on Video dec ompres sor are needed to see this pic ture.
Paris VideoPlan (1986)
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was commissioned by
the RATP (Paris Metro)
to map the Madeleine
district of Paris from the
point-of-view of walking
down the sidewalk. It
was filmed with a stopframe 35mm camera
mounted on an electric
cart, filming one frame
every 2 meters. An
encoder was attached to
one of the cart's axles
Paris VideoPlan (1986)
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Rather than filming
all the turn
possibilities at each
intersection, a mime
was employed to
stand in each
intersection and
simply point in the
possible turn
directions
Paris VideoPlan (1986)
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The playback system
was built in a kiosk
and exhibited in the
Madeleine Metro
Station
Golden Gate Fly-over (1987)
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a moviemap of the San
Francisco Bay Area from
the air. We used a
special gyro-stabilized
helicopter camera and
satellite navigation to
film along a precise ten
by ten mile grid
centered on Golden Gate
Bridge
Golden Gate Fly-over (1987)
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This exhibit uses a
single trackball as
the input device, so
it is very easy to
use. It allows
moving around the
Bay Area at
unnaturally fast
speeds
Golden Gate Fly-over (1987)
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QuickTime™ and a Sorens on Video dec ompres sor are needed to see this pic ture.
The goal was not to
re-create a
helicopter ride as
much as to create a
hyper-real
experience,
something
impossible to
experience in the
physical world
SEE BANFF! (1993-94)
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an interactive
stereoscopic
installation. It bears a
strong - and
intentional resemblance to an
Edison kinetoscope,
which made its public
debut one hundred
years ago in April
1894
SEE BANFF! (1993-94)
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These views were filmed
around Banff and rural
Alberta in autumn 1993.
They were recorded with
two stop-frame 16mm film
cameras mounted on a
"super jogger" baby
carriage. Stereoscopic
recording was either
triggered by an
intervalometer or by an
encoder on one of the
carriage wheels. Since the
filming was "stop-frame",
time and space appear
compressed.
SEE BANFF! (1993-94)
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The imagery is part of
an investigation of the
role of media and its
relationship to
landscape, tourism, and
growth. Recordings were
made dollying along
waterfalls, glaciers,
mountains, and
farmland;
moviemapping up and
down popular natural
trails; and timelapsing
tourists.
Be Now Here (1993-95)
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an installation about
landscape and public
places. Visitors gain
a strong sense of
place by wearing 3D glasses and
stepping into an
immersive virtual
environment
Be Now Here (1993-95)
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The imagery is of public
plazas on the UNESCO
World Heritage Centre's
list of endangered
places - Jerusalem,
Dubrovnik, Timbuktu,
and Angkor, Cambodia –
places both exotic and
disturbing.
Be Now Here (1993-95)
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For production, a
unique recording
system was built
consisting of two
35mm motionpicture cameras (for
3D, one for each
eye) mounted on a
rotating tripod
Be Now Here (1993-95)
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The installation consists
of an input pedestal for
interactively choosing
place and time, a
stereoscopic projection
screen, four-channel
audio, and a 16-foot
rotating floor on which
the viewers stand.
The End