Homeland Insecurity

Preferred VRML/X3D players:

This suite of interactive Web3D works addresses our national paranoia in the United States inspired by the events of 9/11/2001. The pieces collectively respond to our need for security and our fear of exposure in a threatening climate. Clicking on the central element in each piece allows the viewer to put his finger on the source of our discomfort; the act of touching makes the viewer complicit in creating our collective malaise.

· Target’s ominous sound track and dramatic change in perspective forcefully illustrate our changed feelings about our skyscrapers and city centers.

· In Nation in Distress, our most prized national symbol in the United States is revealed to be only a reflection of our true state, one of danger and desperate need. The symbolic meaning of re-orienting the flag has been used both as proper flag etiquette by those who recognize our current situation as dangerous, and as an anti-war statement by those who disagree with our foreign policy.

· Sealed Box references the recent chemical and biological agents scare and the “weapons” – duct tape and plastic sheeting – that the government suggested as a way to fight back. The Chinese box structure or recursive construct implies an endless progression of house within house, suggesting the desperation of our need to protect ourselves and the inadequacy of our means to do so.