[ISEA2010] Artists Talk: Diane Gromala, Meehae Song & Steven J. Barnes – Inter(root), Banyan

Artists Statement

While the branches seek sky and light, the hidden entangled roots consume. What are the consequences of surfing the web for the next news headline, a nice pair of new shoes, or pornography? Can we spoil the real environment by exploring virtual ones like that in World of Warcraft? This exhibition will both directly address these sorts of questions about the environmental and ecological consequences of internet consumption, and also explore this relationship through an immersive, yet nontraditional mix of virtual and physical reality of the tangled tree of pleasure-seeking and environmental destruction that we have made for ourselves in the internet. This immersive exhibit will use a virtual representation of a Banyan tree to explore these issues.

  • Diane Gromala (CA)
    Canada Research Chair Dr. Diane Gromala teaches in the School of Interactive Arts & Technology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Gromala’s work has been exhibited and published worldwide and is in use at over 20 hospitals and clinics.
  • Meehae Song (CA) is currently a Ph.D. student at the School of Interactive Arts & Technology, Simon Fraser University, Song has been working with various VR applications from 2000. Her interests lie in exploring the uses of VR spaces for addressing issues of chronic pain and therapy.
  • Dr. Steven J. Barnes: Initially trained as a visual artist, Steven subsequently became a behavioural neuroscientist – his focus is on the topics of learning and memory, emotion, and neurological and psychiatric disorders. He currently teaches neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, and creates VR applications.

Full text (PDF) p.  395-396