BeNowHere Interactive (1997)
The BeNowHere Interactive installation integrates twelve one-minute, 360-degree, video panoramas, filmed in four cities designated by UNESCO as endangered World Heritage sites: Jerusalem, Dubrovnik, Angkor-Wat, and Timbuktu.
A user-controlled video window moves across the screen leaving a visual trail - a trace of the time and space of the cinematic path. The user can maneuver back and forth within the encapsulated time-modules, creating and erasing moments in time, laying down a panoramic still that also represents a captured slice of time, only to view the scene unfold and come alive.
The BeNowHere Interactive application is an experiment in imbedding a moving video image within a larger static visual context. It is also a prototype for an alternative structure for non-linear cinematic narrative. The application demonstrates the possibility for separating and independently controlling spatial and temporal cinematic elements within one narrative space.
This application was created with footage shot by Michael Naimark and Interval Research Corp. for Naimark’s Be Now Here installation (1996)
Additional credits:
C programming consultant: Matt Antone
Footage: Michael Naimark and Interval Research Corp.
BeNowHere Interactive is the recipient of I.D. magazine design review award (1999).
QT demo (5.3MB)
Tangent Projects: Pixel Present, Oriental Landscapes, Gavagai Portraits, Video Paintbrush