Tulipomania

description

This work explores the notion of cultural hybridity within technology and the social sphere, in particular with questions around the body and the state. Within the CAVE, Tulip Theory's intent is to explore a variety of constructions of poetic narratives using the video and audio signal within these 3D ephemeral virtual spaces, playing with "imbued" or subtle narratives which imply rather than tell a story, along with explorations where the narrative collapses, along with lateral narratives which tell multiple stories simultaneously.

Tulipomania is a virtual video sculpture composed of three 'worlds' based on the same aesthetic framework.  Each world has four video channels mapped onto distinct virtual objects.  The backdrop is constantly changing, created dynamically from a composite of the videos on the objects and subtle interactive cues in the environment.  The soundscape is malleable and based on the current video object being manipulated.

This work was constructed within a CAVE at the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) and later ported to fit a gallery setting.  The work was exhibited with a tabletop interface at the Art Gallery of Calgary.