Go On, Step Into The Art World At These 9 Interactive Displays

If you liked Tom Hanks dancing on the giant piano keys in the movie "Big," you'll love J. Michael Storie's interactive musical water fountain. Step on Storie's big piano keys and you'll get not only music but spewing fountains of water leaping up and down at your command and lots of flashing lights.

Storie's fountain is one of nine interactive art installations that will be on display and ready for some interaction this weekend in the Center House at Seattle Center. Co-sponsored by 911 Media Arts Center and Northwest CyberArtists, the multimedia installations are part of 911's "Beyond Fast Forward" conference, also to be held this weekend at the Center House.

Workshops today and tomorrow will be held by experts on such topics as how to make an interactive movie or television show, how to equip a sound studio for MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) cassette disc production, and the future of the information superhighway. Most workshops have openings.

The interactive art displays, however, are likely to be great entertainment as well as a provocative look at what happens when an artist or musician dabbles with computers.

An installation by Seattle artist Peter Oppenheimer, who is artist-in-residence at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Lab, will use video cameras and screens to assemble make-believe people out of the images of audience members. Another project will wire a human juggler to a high-tech jukebox, with the sound generated by the juggler's moves, which depend on jukebox selections picked by the audience.

A project called "Telepaint," by Boulder, Colo., artist David Fodel, will allow participants from around the country to paint collectively in Cyberspace.

Considering that dinosaurs from "Jurassic Park" are on display at the Pacific Science Center, the interactive displays are another reason to visit the Center this weekend. Kids are welcome at the interactive installations.

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A conference on interactive technology and art will be held today through Sunday at the Center House at Seattle Center. The display of interactive art installations is free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Workshops are $30 each or $70 for a one-day pass. There are three workshops scheduled today and three tomorrow. For more information, call 682-6552.