In addition to the lifeforms created at the pool side there is another species stirring in the pool: the Cy.Bees. These are created in the Internet community and are sent to the exhibition with a message by their creators. The shy Cy.Bees congregate on one corner of the glass block and crawl on to the bather’s hand if he keeps it still for long enough. That moment is captured in a photograph and the picture is sent back to its creator via e-card on to the Internet.
This is a bi-directional communication between real and virtually present individuals, between the exhibition and Internet, an encounter in two worlds.MESO Web Scapes developed a Flash module which handled the creation and upload of the Cy.Bees on the web page. Special focus was put on smooth behaviours. People were able to teach the Cy.Bees different moves by making different mouse gestures. All Cy.Bees were encoded in a XML file. The data base backend and the main application was provided by Screenbow, Wiesbaden. MESO Digital Interiors provided a solution for integrating the animated Cy.Bees in the pool projection in switzerland and shot the images for the visitors with a web cam. An email script (again by Screenbow) delivered the greeting images via email.
See the archived Cy.Bee creator in motion at http://screenbow.de/Cyberch/public/html/pool/