In 1997 virtual reality still seemed like pure science fiction. Even if you could find a virtual environment somewhere, it was usually very expensive, and this has been true up until very recently. But while most people were daydreaming about virtual reality through Star Trek's holodecks, Luc Courchesne was creating art from them. He took four screens, four touch screen computers (also extremely impressive at that point), microphones, motion detectors, and video disk players and made a virtual room.
The room displays video taken from a park, events, and virtual characters that the user can interact with. The goal of this piece is to explore a landscape not simply as the image and feel of the space, but to push the understanding of the space and its personality. He wants the user to fully explore the environment, the stories, the people, and the movement by pushing the envelope of the experience.
I find this piece to be personally fascinating. Virtual environments are not easy to program, and despite the fact that the technology is cheaper and better now than it was 12 years ago it's still very difficult. And yet Courschesne did an excellent job exploring this idea of a landscape. What I would love to see is an updated version of this. With modern technology, he could project the landscape onto a circular, multi-touch paneled room, then by using technology similar to the Wii Fit Balance Board he could allow the user to physically explore the room by walking from one end to the other. Fitted with strategic speakers, mics, and even fans or heat sources, he could take the idea of exploring space to a whole new level of interaction.
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