Hearts and Minds: The Interrogations Project is a 3D narrative experience made for the effective sensory environment of the EVL’s CAVE2™ that gives voice to stories of violence and the post-traumatic stress experienced by ordinary American soldiers who became torturers in the course of serving their country. During the American-led counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaigns in Iraq in the years after September 11, 2001, the torture and abuse of detainees was a commonplace tactic. Hearts and Minds: the Interrogations Project is based on interviews of American soldiers conducted by Dr. John Tsukayama. Viewers travel through the domestic spaces and surreal interior landscapes of soldiers who have come home transformed by these experiences, triggering their testimonies by interacting with objects laden with loss.

Hearts and Minds is developed by a team including filmmaker Roderick Coover, writer Scott Rettberg, artist and visualization researcher Daria Tsoupikova, computer scientist Arthur Nishimoto, sound designer Mark Partridge, production assistant Mark Baratta, and senior research programmer Lance Long. Dr. Jeffrey Stevenson Murer of St. Andrews University, Scotland also contributed as a consultant on the project. EVL, the UIC Department of Art and Design, Temple University, and the Norwegian Research Council supported the development of the project.

Video documentation excerpt from Hearts and Minds performance in the CAVE2 virtual environment at the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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