Globorama /// 2005–2007 /// Interactive Installation for PanoramaScreen
/// Bernd Lintermann, Joachim Böttger, Torsten Belschner
[09/29 - 10/21/2007, ZKM_Media Theater]

With the help of satellite pictures, the research project Globorama explores new possibilities of navigable and personalized information spaces: surrounded by satellite pictures of the earth on a 360° PanoramaScreen, the visitors can traverse the entire globe by using laser-pointers and, at selected points submerge themselves in the respective sites via panoramic photographs (numbering more than 2500). A special representational method was developed in cooperation with the University of Konstanz, which is based on the transformation of pictorial data by means of a complex algorithm. In real-time applied to satellite photographs, this method facilitates a seamless transition across complex pictorial information in close- and distant vision. Globorama offers an innovative model of real-time construction and interaction with geo-references and sonified pictorial-and text data in a panoramic environment and thus creates new possibilities for the grouping, representation and navigation of information.
Hence, Globorama updates the concept of All-vision for the present: the project enables the user to fix the coordinates of his virtual global exploration himself and, by audio-visual, location-specific information to experience his voyage physically.

Bernd Lintermann (*1967 in Düsseldorf) works as an artist and scientist in the field of real-time computer graphics with a focus on interactive and generative systems. The results of his research are used in scientific, artistic and commercial contexts. His computer generated pictures, interactive installations as well as projection environments are internationally presented at festivals and museums. He has been director of the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media since 2005.

Joachim Böttger (*1975 in Munich) took his doctorate at the post graduate program “Explorative Analysis and Visualization of Large Information Spaces” in the work group Computer Graphics and Media Informatics at the University of Konstanz. The focus of his research is the visualization of very small details in complex contexts, such as in geographical data or in software packages. After graduating from his studies in computer visualistics Böttger was, among others, a member of “House_n”, a research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Torsten Belschner (*1966 in Freiburg in Breisgau) works as sound designer and composer on the interface between music and software. He develops interactive sound installations, which convert complex data streams in multiple-channel environments. Among others, his audio concept, developed for the Bertelsmann Pavillon Planet.m at the Expo 2000 won international recognition as did his audio environment for the interactive installation The Room With a View in the Skoda Pavilion of the VW Auto city, Wolfsburg. 

Authors: Bernd Lintermann, Joachim Böttger, Torsten Belschner /// visual concept and realization: Bernd Lintermann, Joachim Böttger, Martin Preiser, Nikolaus Völzow /// audio-concept and realization: Torsten Belschner, dataphonic audio solutions, Freiburg /// interaction design and realization [laserpointer interaction]: Werner A. König, Hans-Joachim Bieg, Toni Schmidt, Prof. Dr. H. Reiterer, Projekt inteHRDis, AG Man-computer Interaction, University of Konstanz /// project partners: ZKM | Institute for Visual Media Karlsruhe; workgroup Computer Graphics and Media Informatics, University of Konstanz; working group, man-computer interaction, University of Konstanz /// special thanks go to: Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen /// sponsoring: IDS Imaging Development Systems GmbH, Obersulm /// production: ZKM | Institute for Visual Media /// PanoramaScreen: based on Jeffrey Shaw’s interactive cinema system /// PanoramaScreen is a cooperative development of the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media, Karlsruhe [D] and the UNSW iCinema Research Centre, Sydney [AUS] /// production: Huib Nelissen Decor en Constructiewerken, Haarlem [NL] /// Panorama Display Software (concept and development): Bernd Lintermann, ZKM | Institute for Visual Media.
Globorama was realized in the context of the cooperative group “Information at your fingertips – Interactive Visualization for Gigapixel Displays”, the DFG post graduate program “Explorative Analysis and Visualization of Large Information Spaces” at the University of Konstanz, and was sponsored by the State Sponsoring Program for Informatics Baden-Württemberg (BW-FIT).

Installation view ZKM_Media Theater, 2007, photo: Felix Gross

Bernd Lintermann/Joachim Böttger/Torsten Belschner, Globorama, 2005–2007, interactive Installation for PanoramaScreen, modular metal frames with projection wall for 360° projection, laser-pointer, 6 projectors, 8 Genelec loudspeakers, 1 Subwoofer, 1 mixing desk, 4 USB cameras, measurement of the projection environment ø 8 m, H 2,80 m, ZKM | Institute for Visual Media