The emergence of virtual-reality experiences has suggested
that in the near future people will spend long periods of time moving through
programmed worlds of realistic sights and sounds. Though these experiences will
no doubt be pleasurable, they represent almost total immersion in a sensorium
that negates the natural world around us. This scenario is used metaphorically
in Diorama to represent tensions felt by those who are sensitive to the
loss of primal, natural experience in an increasingly man-made environment.
Diorama was produced using a two-camera system to photograph real life
scenes. Although the 3-D satisfies our expectation to see objects in depth,
it can also produce a strange sense of artificiality. I used this hyper-reality
to create the mood for the short enigmatic narrative, in which the subjective
eye of the narrator moves us through a virtual world affording comfort and order,
but lacking the elements of real life he seems to yearn for. The soundtrack
includes music by Doug Quin, a composer who creates electronic music using samples
of wildlife sounds.
Matt Dibble
Julia Tell, "Plunder Squad", Articulate,
Baltimore/Washington, DC, October 1996.
Rebecca Crumlish, "Plunder Squad:A Performance Piece", washington
review, December/January 1996-7.