The Thing Growing :: MFA Show ::- EVL March 00

	The Thing Growing is my thesis project for my MFA at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  It has shown as a work in progress since 1998, but this was the unveiling of the finished project. It focuses on a virtual character, controlled by the computer, who interacts rather bossily with the user. This version includes a substantial reworking to make the "Thing" more appealing since the point of the project was to bring the use to a point where she has the power to shoot the Thing and to play on the ambivalence that this could arouse. My earlier Thing was so unpleasant that very few people refrained from shooting - this Thing survived a few more times.
	The show opened on the evening of March 9th. The Thing Growing showed every 20  minutes  in two CAVEs and on two ImmersaDesks simultaneously. Having four VR devices maximized the number of people who could directly interact with the application.  This was important to me because the impact of the piece is very  different when you are the one the Thing addresses and reacts to.
	With the four VR devices running about of 20 people could see the project at any one time, 8 in each CAVE, 3 at one of the Idesks and 1 at the other.  At the two CAVEs and at one of the Idesks the tracked user had an audience. This user's emotional and psychological responses are not only affected by the Thing but by being watched by others.
	At the second Idesk one user, wearing headphones, went through the experience alone. This user was very much enclosed in the world with the Thing, and without onlookers. Ideally I would like the piece to be this kind of one on one experience all the time.
	The project also showed during the day on March 10th. The second day was less crowded and we showed in one CAVE only. Which meant that a couple of people could have the intimate one on one experience in the larger immersive environment.
show in pictures MFA statement