Thinking Through Asynchronous Space:
(originally published in 'Reframing Consciousness', Ed Roy Ascott.
Intellect Books, pp133-138. ISBN 1-84150-013-5)

 

This section references the experiences of designing and producing 'MEDIASPACE', an integrated publishing experiment which combines; interactive satellite transmissions, World Wide Web activity, and an 'organic' printed version.

 

(Media)(Cyber)(Memory)(Metaphorical)(Psycho-social)(Symbolic)(Asynchronous)-space

Background:

The intent of 'MEDIASPACE', whether in its 'dead' paper-based form, or the 'live' digital forms of satellite and internet, is to explore the implications of new media forms and emergent fields of digital practice in art and design. 'MEDIASPACE' is an experimental publishing project that explores the integration of print(1), WWW(2) and interactive satellite transmissions(3) (incorporating live studio broadcasts, ISDN based video conferencing, and asynchronous email/ISDN tutorials). The convergence of these technologies generates a distributed digital 'space' (satellite footprint, studio space, screen space, WWW space, location/reception space, and the printed page). This paper focuses on the relationship of this space to time and it's 'inhabitants'.

 

Space and Time:

"TODAY, WE TAKE ON SPACE AND TIME.

The space-time continuum is being challenged. The notion of communication is changed for ever. All the information in the universe will soon be accessible to everyone at every moment."
(Tracey 1998)

The Futurist inspired rhetoric that surrounds so much digital technology ignores the subtler aspects of the human condition. However, the shifts in our perception of time and space caused by these technologies can be compared to the impact the 'machine' had at the turn of the 20th Century. It is as if the "poop-poop" mentality of Mr Toad was just a rehearsal for the rapid acceleration into cyberspace. Attempts to map cyberspace, as an alien terrain or an extension of our consciousness, challenges our understanding of the dimensions that engulf us, and initiates the search for a 'cyber-cartography', in order that we may understand the complexity of this spatial-temporal flux.

The evolution of our spatial-temporal perception is acutely linked to technology. Toffler describes the shift from the cyclic idea of time, enjoyed by pre-industrial, pre-clock societies, as the 'linearisation of time', which resulted in fragmentation of 'space' into many 'spaces'. The need to control, and measure space and time inevitably led to the standardisation of time.

"It was in effect synchronisation in space. For both time and space had to be more carefully structured if industrial societies were to function"
(Toffler 1983)

The 'global embrace' of McLuhan's (1973) extended nervous system, which contracted the globe into "no more than a village", did not actually liquidate space and time. It gave the 'linearisation of time' another 'dimension', the ability to pass through many streams of 'geographical' time, but time was still essentially linear. Pallasmaa articulates this notion of the second 'dimension' of time:

"The experience of space and time have imploded and become fused by speed. As a consequence of this implosion we are witnessing a distinct reversal of the two dimensions, a temporalisation of space and a spatialisation of time. We live increasingly in a perpetual present, flattened by speed and simultaneity, and grasped by instantaneous perceptions of the eye. The only sense that is fast enough to keep pace with the astounding increase in the technological world is sight. But the world of the eye is threatening to turn into the flat world of the present."
(Pallasmaa 1996)

Fig 1: 'The Humming of Strings"

 

Figure 1, 'The Humming of Strings', illustrates a proposal for a system which plays with the notion of a "flat world of the present' and explores the potential for asynchronous activity. The piece suggests the opportunity to jump in and out of the space-time fusion, by adding another 'dimension' to time. It uses the time delay in a satellite signal to create a 46,000 mile echo chamber / feedback loop. The reception of the signal returning from the satellite to its point of origin is delayed by a quarter of a second (23,000 miles x 2 at 186,000 mps). This delay places the received signal permanently in the 'past' and allows interventions to be made to the structure of the signal. The signal (video and audio), past and present, can be manipulated in 'real time' in multiple locations.

'MEDIASPACE' explores this other 'dimension' by offering a combination of synchronous and asynchronous interaction. The construction of this system is designed to allow individuals to communicate synchronously or asynchronously from a variety of locations through the new space, 'MEDIASPACE'. Consequently time and space are not limited by the flat present, or by the fast-forward and rewind button. The system can shift the space-time that its participants inhabit. A recursive version of Palasmaa's flat present is envisioned by Vonnegut..

"Yes, and when the timequake of 2001 zapped us back to 1991, it made ten years of our pasts ten years of our futures, so we could remember everything we had to say and do again when the time came.

Keep this in mind at the start of the next rerun after the next timequake: The show must go on!"
(Vonnegut 1997)

The environment facilitated by 'MEDIASPACE' provides another vista, one of multiple spaces slipping in and out of synch, sometimes simultaneous sometimes asynchronous.

 

[I/You/We] [Am/Are/Was/Were] [Here/There]

"If the concept of space is not a space, is the materialisation of the concept of space a space?"
(Tschumi 1996)

Fig 2: 'Visio' Conference

 

The screen grabs shown in Figure 2 are taken from an video conference between Paris and Plymouth(4). Are the two locations contracted to one, or expanded to three? Or duplicated at each end to four or five? Is the shortest distance between two points a video-phone? Paik (1984) compares the art of the ninja to function of a satellite.

"The first step for a ninja is to learn how to shorten distances by shrinking the earth, that is, how to transcend the law of gravity. For the satellite, this is a piece of cake."
(Paik 1984)

The shrinking of space through digital communications generates new spaces. The flat 'screen-space' of a video conference presents rectangular 'portals' to the other participants, and a feedback 'portal' showing, in real-time, the place of origin. The 'portal' opening on the other screen shows similar views, but at the point of reception the delay and strobe indicates that a space between has been crossed. However, this space may not be geographical, it may be generated by technological inadequacies. This 'space between' is a conceptual and temporal space.

'MEDIASPACE' attempts to harness these temporal spaces within and beyond the transmission times. Figure 3 shows a 'map' of the 'MEDIASPACE' system; the wire-frame circles are the transmission times (60 minutes), the dark spheres are the ISDN conferences, and the central wire-frame cube the WWW site. The floating figures/ boxes are addressed in the next section. Multiple 'pathways of communication' connect each point on a plane (time of a transmission) and between transmissions through email or ISDN tutorials. The WWW site acts as an central focus which evolves as the transmissions progress.

The system only functions when it is populated. The interaction of individuals within this system generates a 'social' space which, according to Harré (1985), is the 'space' where understanding and knowledge are exchanged, and learning takes place. It is possible that this space allows individuals to externalise their "inner worlds" to generate a 'spatial' consciousness.

Fig 3: Map of 'MEDIASPACE'

 

"I look to my left, and I am in one city; I look to my right, and I am in another. My friends in one can wave to my friends in the other, through my having brought them together."
(Novak 1991)

Novak's 'Liquid Architecture' momentarily solidifies to form a 'city', with waving inhabitants. This next section explores the relationships that may develop between the participants of 'MEDIASPACE' through the process of 'waving' to others, and/or watching others wave.

 

Watching People Watching...

The walls of Saint Jerome's(5) study are punctured with an array of rectangular 'portals', each one giving access to a different space; internal, information, and external sky/landscapes. Jerome ignores these spatial frames, focusing instead on the symbols on the printed page. He also ignores the gaze of the viewer. This information space is pierced by windows which, while allowing him to see out, allow the viewer (and viewers at the other windows?) to see in. Is this the perfect model of a web-cam?

Whether or not Adolf Eichman, on trial in his glass box(6) in Jerusalem, was the inspiration for the wire-frame structures which hang around Bacon's figures, their 'spatial tension is significant. This spatial anomaly impacts on the confined and entropic condition of 'Organisation Man', and parodies the structure of 'Saint Jerome in his Study'.

Like Saint Jerome, Eichman and 'Organisation Man', the architect of the Panopticon(7) sits in a 3D frame, some two hundred and fifty years after his death. Jeremy Bentham's AutoIcon, still sits in the corridor at UCL. His body preserved in wax, his head mummified and his vital organs conserved. The public display of the mortified body of the creator of 'Inspection House', anticipated the global voyeurism with this ultimate act of exhibitionism.

Fig 4: Boxed Philosophers

 

Figure 4 is a diagram of these seated figures. The exaggerated structure which surrounds them separates them from each other and the viewer, but also functions as a window on their activities. It is possible that the relationship of the passive occupants of 'MEDIASPACE', to each other and the space, fall somewhere between the matrix created by these structures that house the likes of Saint Jerome, Bentham and Organisation Man. Figure 3 places these 'lurkers' in the vacant space, just off the main 'pathways of communication' within the 'map' of 'MEDIASPACE'. It is also possible for 'active' individuals within the space to drift in and out of these 'pathways of communication'.

These people in this space and time, require a new nomenclature. They are no longer an 'audience', such a definition is too passive. Telematic activity, as Sermon (1997) says, "is nothing without the presence and interactions of the participants who create their own television programme by becoming the voyeurs of their own spectacle." Turley (1997) identifies the term "spect-actor" to define "forms in which members of the audience cross, ultimately consciously cross the boundary between watching and taking part in the action."

 

Terminus The 'MEDIASPACE' project attempts to provide a framework for 'cyber-time', 'cyber-space' and the social interaction that occurs within them. To cross boundaries within this framework we must experience the spatial-temporal shifts that occur, as they are too elusive to be articulated. Epps (1997) terms the reality of cyberspace "subjective", and that "it is this non-local space, as Novak terms it, which transcends language and reinforces the spaces which we already know". In order to understand the 'cyber'-spaces that we do not already 'know', the human mind requires 'time' and 'space' to evolve through a social dialogue within the complexity of this "subjective" spatial-temporal flux. And in cyberspace there are plenty of 'times' and 'spaces'.

 

Notes:

(1) MEDIASPACE WWW can be found at:http://www.liquidpress.net/mediaspace/

(2) 'MEDIASPACE' is published as part of the CADE (Computers in Art and Design Education) journal Digital Creativity by SWETS & ZEITLINGER.

(3) 'MEDIASPACE' interactive satellite transmissions were funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), the British National Space Centre (BNSC), and WIRE (Why ISDN Resources in Education) and use Olympus, EUTELSAT and INTELSAT satellites via a TDS-4b satellite uplink.

(4) Visio Conference: 13e Expolongues Salon International des langues. 28 janvier 1er fevrier 95, Grande Halle de la Villete Paris.

(5) Saint Jerome in His Study, Antonello da Messina, active 1456; died 1479, Oil on lime, 45.7 x 36.2 cm, The National Gallery, London.

(6) Examples of Bacons 'glass box' device: 1949 Head VI (93 x 77 cm, The Arts Council of Great Britain), through to 1991 Study from the Human Body (oil and pastel on canvas, 198 x 147.5) the Estate of the Artist.

(7) The Panopticon; or the Inspection House. was proposed by Jeremy Bentham in 1791.

 

References:

Epps, C. "Objective" and "Subjective" Virtual Realities. Digital Creativity Volume 8 No' 3&4 1997, Mediaspace 4, pp7-12

Grahame, K. 1908, The Wind in the Willows. Methuen & Co Ltd. pp41

Harré, R. et al. 1985. Motives and Mechanisms: an Introduction to the Psychology of Action. London. Methuen & Co Ltd. pp72

McLuhan 1973. Understanding Media, Abacus. pp 11-13.

Novak, M. 1991. Liquid Architecture in Cyberspace. Cyberspace First Steps. MIT Press. pp225.

Paik NJ, 1984, Art and Satellite, ed Stiles K. et al, Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art. University of California Press. pp 435

Pallasmaa J, 1996, The Eyes of the Skin, Polemics, Academy Group Ltd, pp12

Sermon P. 1997, From Telematic Man to Heaven 194.94.211.200, Conference Proceedings Consciousness Reframed 1997, CAiiA, University of Wales College, Newport

Toffler 1983. The Third Wave, Pan Books. pp119

Tracey M, 1998, Advertisement in the New York Times on 5 January 1994, for MCI. The Decline and Fall of Public Service Broadcasting, Oxford University Press, pp192

Tschumi B, 1996, Questions of Space, Architecture and Disjunction, The MIT Press, pp53

Turley S, 1997, Designing for Audience Response, Intelligent Tutoring Media, Vol 7 No' 3&4, Mediaspace 3, pp28

Vonnegut K. Timequake, Jonathan Cape 1997, pp 20.