LOCKUP
LOCKUP is an installation, performance and interactive narrative in Virtual Reality that explores the realm of possibilities open to us when we alter life courses through important decision making. Using a transgressive story line, the user is transcended into a criminal world where their fate can be determined by the choices made throughout the piece. A totally immersive suspension of disbelief is achieved via physical interaction with virtual and real objects and an intellectual and emotional connection to the characters and plight of the user's survival. Two performers in the CAVE™ with the user interact in a "good-cop/bad-cop" method to provide guidance and encouragement.
The artwork was originally designed to take advantage of the physical installation space by actually locking the user into the CAVE™ Virtual Reality Theater behind metal bar doors. The user would be forced to wear an enhanced straitjacket that contains temperature, heart rate and vibration input and output sensors. There would be surveillance video cameras that watch the user and the audience and incorporate and recontextualize these images back into the artwork.
Special thanks to Dan Sandin, Dave Pape, Alan Millman and UIC's Electronic Visualization Laboratory to help make this work possible.
About Todd
My work functions as a sensory intervention, utilizing the tools of rigorous research to materialize complex data as a felt experience. They explore the mediated experience of human intuition with algorithmic logic, turning abstract information into immersive physical or visual form.
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