Liquid Views

»Liquid Views« by Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss, created in 1992 with the collaboration of Christian A. Bohn, is an interactive media installation. It uses a monitor with touchscreen technology and a mini-camera to simulate a water surface in which viewers are reflected when they lean over the monitor. When the touchscreen is touched, virtual water ripples and sounds are created. The intensity of the touch influences the distortion of the reflection, while the surface settles after a period of inactivity and the original image becomes visible again.
The installation draws on the myth of Narcissus, who saw his reflection in the surface of a spring and fell in love with his own likeness. When his tears fell into the water, the image disappeared. Although Narcissus eventually realized his deception, he died of his unrequited love. Unlike the myth, “Liquid Views” transforms the lonely confrontation with one's own image into a public event: the reflection on the water surface is also transferred to a large-format projection screen. This transforms the personal moment of self-reflection into an action that can be observed by others.
“Liquid Views” addresses the increasing blurring of real and virtual space as well as the changing boundary between the private and the public. It draws attention to the conditions under which the self is experienced in digital environments and highlights the effects of this technical transformation on the formation of identity.
The work also points to the ambivalence between human control and the autonomy of processes in nature and technology. The water surface, a symbol of nature, can be manipulated but ultimately remains uncontrollable. Excessive intervention by the viewer leads to a state of loss of control that takes time to stabilize. This dynamic illustrates the complex relationship between humans and their environment.
»Liquid Views« raises central questions about identity, control and observation in the interplay between humans and technology, while also revealing the limits of human control over complex systems.
The technical implementation is based on the then innovative combination of a horizontally positioned touchscreen and an SGI Reality Engine, a specialized 3D graphics hardware that could simulate water waves in real time. The video camera mounted at the top of the touchscreen captures the image of the viewer and inserts it into the simulation. This early use of real-time rendering and texture mapping set standards in the development of interactive media art over 30 years ago.
Producer: VISWIZ Group (Visualization and Media Systems Design) / GMD Gesellschaft für Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung, St. Augustin, Germany