Ornitorrinco

Chronology: 1986-1996

1996

Ornitorrinco, the Webot, travels around the world in eighty nanoseconds going from Turkey to Peru and back

Ornitorrinco, the Webot, travels around the world in eighty nanoseconds going from Turkey to Peru and back, a Web telepresence installation created for the exhibition "Metamachines: Where is the Body?", curated by Päivi Talasmaa, Erkki Huhtamo, and Perttu Rastas, at the Otso Gallery, in Espoo, Finland (October 19-November 10, 1996).

Ornitorrinco in the Sahara

A dialogical telepresence event created for the St. Petersburg Biennale, in Russia. This event's topology was based on the use of two separate phone lines. One phone line connected the Museum of St. Petersburg History, in St. Petersburg, to the Art and Technology Department at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). A second line connected SAIC to the Aldo Castillo Gallery, in Chicago (October 5, 1996).

1994

Ornitorrinco in Eden

"Ornitorrinco in Eden", by Eduardo Kac and Ed Bennett , bridged the placeless space of the Internet with physicalspaces in Seattle (WA), Chicago (IL), and Lexington (KY). The piececonsisted of these three nodes of active participation and multiple nodesof observation worldwide.

1993

Ornitorrinco on the Moon

"Ornitorrinco on the Moon" was presented on May 28, 1993, between The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Kunstlerhaus (Graz, Austria), in the context of the Austrian exhibition "Beyond Borders". A public telepresence station was located at the Kunstlerhaus. Ornitorrinco was in an environment in the Electronics and Kinetics Area at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.

1992

Ornitorrinco in Copacabana

"Ornitorrinco in Copacabana" was presented daily at the Siggraph Art Show, in Chicago (July 26-31, 1992). A public telepresence station was located at the McCormick Place, site of the Siggraph Conference. Ornitorrinco was located about 3 miles away, in an environment in the Electronics and Kinetics Area at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.

1990

Experience 1

"Experience 1", Ornitorrinco's first international telepresence work, took place on January 11, 1990, in a link between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Chicago. From Rio de Janeiro Kac controlled Ornitorrinco in Chicago via a telephone connection. Ornitorrinco was in an environment in the Electronics and Kinetics Area at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.

1989

Ornitorrinco

Ornitorrinco pioneered the field of telerobotics and telepresence in art since 1989 — before the Web — as the first system which allowed users in public and private spaces to remotely access a fully mobile and wireless robot and alter the remote location (teleoperation) via the telephone network.

1988

Sketches for two Telerobots

Between 1987 and 1988, still in Rio de Janeiro, Kac drew sketches for two telerobots to be controlled by participants in two distant cities. The idea was to enable a participant in city A to control a telerobot in city B and vice-versa. Kac consulted with engineer Wellington Pinheiro in preparation for this work.

1986

RC Robot

In 1986 Kac worked with radio-controlled telerobotics in the context of the exhibition "Brasil High Tech", realized at the Centro Empresarial Rio, in Rio de Janeiro. Kac used a 7-feet tall anthropomorphic robot (left) as a host who conversed with exhibition visitors in real time. The robot's voice was that of a human being transmitted via radio. Exhibition visitors did not see the telerobot operator, who was telepresent on the RC Robot's body.