The Crystal Cabinet
01.2003

enter (parallel graphics - cortona version)
enter (blaxxun - contact version)

William Blake, artist, poet, and visionary is considered by many to be the first multimedia artist. He merges the written word with the illustrated page to create an immersive philosophically driven narrative.

In recreating the Crystal Cabinet, we avoided a literal interpretation and instead embedded a wealth of philosophic connectivity. Issues of Innocence and Experience, the Industrial age, and Adam and Eve seamlessly blend into Blake's most sensual poem.

Seven stanzas become seven linked environments. Starting in a real space, each stanza serves as a transition through Blake's three-fold vision. In the end you are returned to the world, to London. London however, is not the same.

Navigation was a challenge. Blake believed that a persons own actions triggers unexpected consequences in their world. To embody this, the default navigation is activated by movement in and out of the center. This ensures that the viewer lacks direct control of the narrative yet sees what we believe they need to see (in order to follow the story). Compare this to a "Click here for next stanza" approach.


Above & below: Crystal Cabinet screen shots





TOP




Untitled Memories
07.1998

enter

This work builds on previous ideas of entering the consciousness of others. Taking five poems from Atlanta poet Moebius Kid and the photography of Thomas Tulis I built five installations that are embedded in an interface of memory.

The outer space is constant and the starting point (the menu bar) is fixed. It is the inside, the content, that switches like a page. This type of construction allows for navigation to be focused on gaining an experience as opposed to way finding over a long distance. The user does less, gets more. The work is a conceptual break-through and begins a process of merging the best of two dimensional GUI interaction with that of the three dimensional world.

This project was unveiled at the 1998 Digital Americana Show at the Orlando Museum of Art.

Larger Works
1998 - 1999

After completing my first series of work, I began to explore methods of building longer narratives, structuring them in alternate spatial organizational systems and then studied the physics of user interactions in support of the underlying story or philosophy.



Unknown
04.1998

enter

The concept was a large "Myst-like" story world. The underlying story was that of a human computer interface project gone horrifically wrong. A researcher's mind was sucked into the machine and his memories scattered throughout the internet.

The user visits each memory (a web3D world) and eventually puts the pieces together.

It did not get further than the first two worlds.


The Glass Buddha
02.1998

enter

A small piece featuring a short poem by Lao Tzu. Issues of control, the divisions of the self and expressions of the flaws of trying in dictate real world notions upon a virtual space are gently portrayed within this simple world.

This work is a unique expression of "Less is More".



TOP



Early VRML Work
1996 - 1997

Few tools and only beta plugins made being a Mac VRML developer difficult. I was unable to impose my own will upon the medium. Instead my work began to evolve around what came "easy", what the media seemed to "want" to do.

The content of each of the four virtual poems are literal expressions of a design philosophy directed at builders of virtual space. Focusing on multimedia expression as opposed to real world representation this body of work began to explore new possibilities in a new medium.

The first projects placed text and images on long virtual hallways. The reader would follow the path(s) and a linear story would emerge. Dramatic turns or changes in the story were expressed as rooms.



Unfortunately, these works were created in an old format (VHSB) and are not available online.

The VRML projects, shown below, moved from the notion of pathway as page to that of viewpoint as page. This allowed greater freedom for the user, the removal of unneeded travel and more flexibility in content delivery .


Virtual Faust

enter

A short selection from Goethe's Faust struck a cord with me. The "wastes of solitude" notion reminded me of the beautifully modeled but spiritually and emotionally empty worlds that make up the majority of web3D environments.

Conceptually, the notion of building installations instead of rooms begins here.

This project was shown on the cover of NetProfessional Magazine.



Teenage Shaman

enter

The poem is a disjointed vision of Indian gods, drug-induced visions and teenage angst. It formed an excellent starting point for exploring narrative, abstraction, and scale. Each viewpoint is placed further out than the one before. They however face inward so that they more out, they reveals a little more of the world. In the end the big picture is revealed.



Void

enter

Originally presented by R. Mutt in 1917, this piece is a reminder that there is no line between the real and the virtual. Art is art and you still need to watch your coat.

This piece was a response to the common cry that web3d will be cool when we have "animation", when we have "streaming audio", when we have "nurbs". While technology is indeed powerful, pure human expression does not rely on bandwidth, processor speed and software features.

Best with Netscape (view Dada source)



Light Paint Pig
enter
Atlanta artist Sean Paul Zilleto placed a television on stage. All it displayed was an poem, broken into stanzas that appeared in sequence on screen. Combined only an animated texture background and subtle audio it was an amazingly strong piece dedicated to new media artists

I've adapted the poem to a kinetic sculpture. A fellow programmer suggested I make the text appear when the user approaches each viewpoint. Functionally it would be easier, but what of the experience? Exploring this difference has driven my work from the beginning.



Can You Play Change?

enter

A large installation with Lynn Linnemeier, Mildred Thompson was created for the 1997 Arts Festival of Atlanta. The theme was straight-forward. As children we learn about the world through play. In a fast changing world adults must continue the learn. Adults must remember to play. (especially with new media)

This is an exploration in nonlinear poetry. We can control viewpoint locations, but not when the user chooses to go there. This poem is in three animated stanzas yet is meant to be read at any starting position. To set the viewer up for the poem the first viewpoints are inside the environment and are used to provoke curiosity. Only the final viewpoint shows the moving verses properly. The question of scale opened the door to many questions on the spatial aspects of narrative.




TOP