Artist Statement

Special ISEA95 Event

This is a museum installation about the cave of Lascaux (France), an interactive reconstruction of the ancient painted cave made with a new computer graphic technique called virtual reality. In one of the two rooms of the installation, a viewer seated in a chair dons wraparound 3D glasses, grabs a joystick and starts exploring the caves. Should he study the painting of an, animal for a period of time, it becomes a clip and then dissolves. In the other room, viewers see everything he sees except for the clip which is a private viewing experience. One at a time, the spectators can become 3D viewers/explorers for about ten minutes. Those willing to share a secret receive a message regarding the hidden history of humanity.

• Benjamin J. Britton (USA) Media artist holding a Ph.D. from the Goddard Graduate Program, he holds an MFA in Video Art from the San Francisco Art Institute and teaches Electronic Art at the University of Cincinnati (Ohio). His current research includes interactive art, virtual reality, multimedia, telecommunications, history of art and technology, archeology, anthropology and the French language. One of the first members of the Bay Area Video Coalition in 1977, he travelled, studied and worked in Europe, got a Masters in Media Arts in Montpelier (Vermont) and started creating installations, on-line video editing systems, teleconferencing, digital video systems and interactive videodisc and his own works. Since 1992, he perfects the development of a interactive, 3D museum installation, Lascaux.