This CD-ROM is the promotional brochure for The Communication New Media Design Graduate Studies Department at Art Center College of Design.

A group of Art Center graduate advisors, fuculty, students and academic visitors have been recorded on video and their statements correlated based on the mutual topics that connect them. The result of a "leaf" through this CD-ROM, may be compared to entering a cocktail party where the reader happens upon people and topics as s/he scrolls through the space.

"Platzgeist" promises a different experience in accessing a number of subjects, in this case, those related to the mechanics and modus-operandi of this articular department at the Art Center, as well as points of interest that might attract a potential candidate to the program.

"Platzgeist" has done away with the flip-chart-like pages and buttons common in interactive platforms. Instead, the reader moves through a continous, seamless surface, happening upon information bits which fly randomly throughout the space --no need to click the mouse. The reader "is" the screen-in-motion, which s/he controls by moving the mouse in the desired direction having always the option to click anywhere on the screen to utilize a compass-like menue, a directional aid to specific information.

Platzgeist is in constant motion, keeping information from fallinng under a pre-designed layout; it is meant bo be black and white, a sober background to the featured student projects (full color) and allowing the "Spectacle" to focus on the content and statements of the people represented within.

collaborators: Steffen Janus (Germany) - Graphic Design; Michael Medaglia (USA) - programing; Bryan Brown (USA) - Sound Design.

eMail: rhizome@earthlink.net