2006 Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal

Abstract

"Imaging Place: the U. S./Mexico Border" is a place-based, virtual reality project designed for museum exhibition. It is a user navigated, interactive computer program that combines panoramic photography, video, and three-dimensional digital technologies to investigate and document the effects of globalization on local communities along the border. The work is projected up to nine by twelve feet in a darkened space with a pedestal and a mouse placed in the center of the installation, which allows the audience to interact with the project. Activated by the click of a mouse button, the interface leads the user from global satellite images to virtual reality scenes on the ground Individual users can then navigate an immersive virtual space. Rather than the linear structures of traditional documentary, "Imaging Place" allows the story to unfold through spatial exploration. In addition to the notion of experiencing a story by navigating it, "Imaging Place" seeks to provide the means of excavating the story of a place, allowing the user to uncover layers of history and meaning. The project will take two hours to navigate, and it will be bilingual with both English and Spanish subtitles.