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Project Exhibitions:
XENSE AT ICHIM BERLIN04
XENSE AT DIESEL-ART CONTEST

XENSE
Virtual Reality is currently the subject of academic research and artistic works of new media to enhance experiences for cultural information. The conceptual activity of designing Virtual Environments (VE) poses a number of problems to solve in different ways, through a direct relationship between the visitors' psycological being and both the emboding interface and the mediated content. This means that the user in these virtual places, emerges as a Virtual Performer with its own complexity as a corporal,emotional and social entity. This enables him to interact with the environment and make new forms of data creations, also with other connected users.

1.INTRODUCTION
This project XENSE developes from wholes of the actual multimedia systems and justifies the virtual environment suitable for artistic and cultural expression, to achieve the maximum in the emotional and intellectual impact for the user,
I decided to adopt the new paradigm for the virtual and immersive environment carefully designed to obtain its best efficency.

2.VIRTUAL ARTWORK CONCEPTS
The desire for "mental and sensorial dimension" in the artistic space has always been "the goal" for Art of All Times. This has been the basic statement which conducted to the central relation between the user and the synthetic environment. The user has achieved different definitions during times, based on his role and level of participation/inclusion inside the virtual environment. The research about the human hybridization with the virtual space has been conducted in various artistic currents like the Body Art, Fluxus and the most recentely NetArt. From these analyses emerges the need for suitable communication space.

3.SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
This approach proposes a space for realizing virtual environments (VE) that can be experienced by the users for interactions with cultural contents. The Performers have the ability to select,modify or create every elements of the entire VE and make their own personal artwork experience through writing,painting,sketching and dancing. So, all the aspects of the high intense emotions were organized to add the partecipants' knowledge acquisition and entertainment, mainly focusing on the educational aspect. The volume forms developes into a system maps and has a route orientation function. The orientation in the system is possible through signs which indicates to the user the possible options. The dialog's function with the environment are divided into four steps:
- Sensing: Observing, Orientation
- Feeling:Exploration, Wayfinding
- Thinking: Elaborate, Decision making
- Acting: Touching, Modifing,Manipulation,Active/deactive
The process of the dialog starts with touching and proximity with the object or the environment, and continues through an action making process loop. This is a multisensorial interaction that as a result create the artwork or new space rhythm forms.

4.CONCLUSIONS
The interactions in the performance produce aesthetic effects of the virtual environment transforming the entire system into a new artwork. These new configurations could be saved or left on disposal for further elaborations. Every performer could develop or collect their own results and produce a virtual collage of all its artwork. The VE provides functions in single mode or in collaboration mode,on the network or local mode for the desktop,VideoWall or CAVE systems.

PUBLICATION
"XENSE: art space for virtual performance"
ICHIM04 International Conference "Digital Culture and Heritage"
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 2004
http://www.ichim.org/jahia/Jahia/pid/356