Dramaturgies of PLACE: Evaluation, Embodiment and Performance in PLACE- Hampi Sarah Kenderdine Special Project Museum Victoria Carlton Gardens Melbourne, Australia +61404286050 skenderdine@museum.vic.gov.au Jeffrey Shaw Dean School of Creative Media City University Hong Kong +85234427575 j.shaw@cityu.edu.hk Anita Kocsis Swinburne University Melbourne, Australia a.kocsis@swinburne.edu.au ABSTRACT This paper examines an extensive user evaluation survey undertaken during an installation of PLACE-Hampi, a custom- built augmented stereoscopic panoramic interactive cultural heritage installation. The evaluation draws on the responses of 284 users of the system. This study is highly significant for two reasons. Firstly it is one of only, a few extensive evaluations undertaken to date on interactive virtual cultural heritage work designed for a mass multicultural public. Secondly, the work has traveled extensively for the last 4 years worldwide to major cultural venues, experienced by thousands of people and enjoyed a high degree of public success. The analysis here focuses on selected sections of the survey providing insight into a) virtual embodiment, dwelling and immersion, co-presence and aspects of performance between user, system and spectators—that is, the dramaturgies of PLACE. The analysis of the PLACE-Hampi installation also provides rich observational and quantitative data on the power of stereoscopic, panoramic interactive display systems for the exploration of heritage landscapes. The results of the analysis are highly significant for designers of situated multimodal immersive entertainment in museums and galleries. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5 [Information Interfaces and presentation]: Multimedia, Animations, Augmented realities, Audio Input/Output, Evaluation/methodology. H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: Evaluation/methodology, Graphical user interfaces, Input devices and strategies; Interaction styles Screen design Theory and methods, User-centered design. H.5.5 [Sound and Music]: Computing-Methodologies and techniques. J.5 [Arts and Humanities]: Architecture, Arts, fine and performing, Literature, Music, Performing arts General Terms: Documentation, Performance, Design, Experimentation, Human Factors, Theory Keywords: Virtual heritage, stereoscopic, panoramic, ambisonic, evaluation, embodiment, performance, presence, co-presence 1. INTRODUCTION PLACE-Hampi is described as a vibrant theatre for embodied participation in the drama of Hindu mythology focused at the most significant archaeological, historical and sacred locations of the World Heritage site Vijayanagara (Hampi), South India. The installations’ aesthetic and representational features constitute a new approach to the rendering of cultural experience, and give the participants a dramatic appreciation of the many layered significations of this site. The innovations in technologies surrounding the creation of PLACE-Hampi (hereafter PH) and its aesthetic, interpretive and design choices have been extensively described in previously published papers [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]. The PH website [46] contains video documentation of the installation and the reader it referred to it to appreciate the works’ multimodal interaction paradigm, central to the discussion in this paper. PH’s main features will be briefly re-stated here. PLACE-Hampi uses an innovatively designed visualization and interaction environment to articulate the viewer’s co-presence in a narrative re-discovery of this cultural landscape (Figure 1). It is based on the artistic paradigm developed in 1995 by Jeffrey Shaw for his seminal installation PLACE as the interactive artwork PLACE-A User’s Manual (and subsequently PLACE-Ruhr in 2000, among others). PLACE was renovated for stereoscopic projection by Kenderdine and Shaw in 2006. The success of PLACE as a compelling panoramic display system has been enduring; however it was not until 2007 that it was subject to Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work or personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. 2009, -Oct , 2009, © ACM 2009 ISBN: 978-1-60558- - /09/ 0...$10.00 249