Computer Graphics World

April 2009 33 Art•Augmented Reality n n n n Christophe Girault, an architect he also collaborated with to create a new perma- nent exhibition at the Arc de Triomphe. "ere was nothing here," Benayoun says of his high-ceilinged live-work space. "ere was a restoration of the buildings on either side, and this was a completely open space with no walls, nothing. We cre- ated it from scratch." Rain beats down on the glass ceiling of the atrium. Benayoun makes strong coffee, and we settle on a large, black-leather couch. He looks like a cross between a professor and an avant-garde artist, and indeed he is both, hav- ing taught at the University of Paris 1 (Pan- theon-Sorbonne) since 1985. e kitchen is to our left, stainless steel and modern. In front of us, floor-to-ceiling bookcases line a wall behind a long glass table, and a staircase leads to the family's private living quarters. Behind us, a large area overflows with com- puters, printers, files, and storage cabinets. "In the 17th century, playwrights told stories about the world as an illusion," Benayoun says. "Even movies from the 1950s were about the world being exactly what comes out of your mind. With e Matrix, the idea was that fiction is becom- ing our reality. But now, the real world is becoming fiction. at's different." Benayoun points to reality shows and television news by way of example, noting that CNN presented the war in Iraq using titles created with 3D graphics that looked like the receding text at the beginning of Star Wars. "Once you're in a fiction," he says, "world-scale events touch you only like a movie. e separation between reality and fiction is not clear; it's just another story. What I am trying to do is not create illusion. Not make people think reality and fiction are the same, but awaken people." Take, for example, the permanent exhibit Benayoun designed for a museum inside the Arc de Triomphe, which won a competition sponsored by the National Bureau of Mon- uments in France. "Can you imagine," he laughs. "I thought, if I do something in the Arc de Triomphe, I will be considered as an 'official' artist, you know. So, I accepted only if I could say the things I wanted to say." Paris Plus Napoleon ordered the Arc de Triomphe built after his victory over Russian and Austrian forces in 1805, and the massive structure, finished in 1836, has become a symbol of war and a tribute to fallen sol- diers. "But, Napoleon said his war would be the last one," Benayoun says, "and on the Arc de Triomphe, there is a sculpture called 'Peace.' " So Benayoun titled his de- sign "Between War and Peace." Visitors reach the museum tucked into the arch by climbing 284 steps inside one leg of the monument. Until the 2.2 mil- lion Euro renovation led by Benayoun, that museum had displayed the same col- lection of dusty memorabilia in a dark and dingy room since 1930. Now, visi- tors encounter 13 high-definition plasma screens that display historical images. e screens, which Benayoun had mounted on 65-inch-tall heavy, square, steel platforms set in straight lines, are positioned within each platform to create an oblique line that slashes through the space to break and con- nect parallels, virtual and real. Long, yellow benches line the walls. "[e officials] asked me why the fur- niture is not blue and red—because of the French flag, of course," Benayoun says. "I wanted to answer, 'because not blue and not red.' But I say, 'We need some sun inside.' " However, at each end of the room stand two monitors that, at first glance, look like typical museum exhibits. But on one we can see red-tinted images; the other displays blue-tinted images. e red monitor shows images only of the monument's wartime uses; on the blue, images of the monument used in peacetime flicker past. In front of each monitor is a joystick mounted on a platform. Museum visitors can pick a joy- stick and control the display speed of the images. ey can compete between war Benayoun's red "IDWorms," installed during Shanghai's eArts Festival in 2008, captured participants' faces and converted them into barcodes that, together, formed an ever-expanding, huge image of barcodes dynamically extruded at the far edge to produce a constantly growing 3D city skyline.

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