David Rokeby
«Very Nervous System»

»The first major interactive work I created is called «Very Nervous System» and was started in 1982. I use video cameras, image processors, computers, synthesizers and a sound system to create a space in which the movements of one's body create sound and/or music. The computer as a medium is strongly biased and so my impulse while using the computer was to work solidly against these biases. Because the computer is purely logical, the language of interaction should strive to be intuitive. Because the computer removes you from your body, the body should be strongly engaged. Because the computer's activity takes place on the microscopic scale of silicon wafers, the encounter with the computer should take place in human-scaled physical space. And because the computer is objective and disinterested, the experience should be intimate.
The result is an interactive space in which the public uses their bodies as the active element of the interface. Body movement is rich, complex, and full of subtlety and ambiguity. Early computer art used random number generators to provide variety and complexity. I replaced the random number generator with the complexity of sentient human response.«
(Source: David Rokeby, Lecture for Kwangju Biennale, see homepage)