From: rej@bob.sal.wisc.edu (Randy Jones)
Subject: CONF: Report on U Illinois Conf on VR and Interactive Arts, 2 Feb 92
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 92 15:03:48 -0600



Hi, I'd really appreciate it if you could post the below. My site can't
figure out how to post to moderated groups, and I'd really like some
feedback on my report. 

Many thanks!
Randy Jones
=========================================================================

I'm Randall Jones, a student in Art and Computer Science at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

I went to a symposium on February 2 at the U of Illinois-Normal on VR and
Interactive Arts. One of the panelists was Bryan Hughes, a founder
of Toon Town, the much-talked-about rave series in San Francisco featuring VR
installations, Smart Nutrients, etc. (rave: n., a dance party typically
of long duration and large attendance.)

He was quite impassioned in his exhortations to "demystify" VR technology 
and put it in the hands of creative individuals- he explained that this is
part of Toon Town's mission: giving demos of new tech to "kids" in hopes
that consciousness expansion will result. 

Near the end of his talk he showed a few videos of Toon Town.
Throbbing techno, *long* waiting lines, thousands of people. slide 
projections, smart "nutrients" vendors in Amoeba clothes. Very flash. The 
camcorder's time readout was running so we could see that the rave was
still going strong at 7 am. 

A great party, right? But I think Hughes' justifications for it are insincere. 
The rave is about physical release, overload, technologically-induced
catharsis or bliss. A "meat" experience. And everything in this environment 
gets subsumed to that end- virtual reality becomes a meat toy.  
Three minutes of immersive visuals with "Rhythm is a Mystery" 
booming in the background don't exactly encourage contemplation or 
consciousness expansion. What rave culture is about is
basically temporary intellect *suppression*. The rave-goer is passive
in the use of the technology; physically active, certainly, but not
helping shape the environment. 

Timothy Leary, also at the conference, touched on some ideas about set and 
setting, comparing VR to LSD in its mind-expanding potential. Whether or
not sensory overload can be a pathway to transcendence, I feel very deeply
that some quiet reflection is necessary to gain anything from the experience.
"Doing" VR at a rave is like doing LSD at a rave. You may have a really
good time, but you won't develop any new kinds of meta-level thinking;
you won't get enlightened. Your experience is stuck within the context of 
the Spectacle provided for you.

Not that Toon Town is a bad thing. Dancing in massive waves of good vibes and
hyperstimulation would be a great experience for far more people than
actually do it. Whirling in a trance-like state is a sublime and time-honored
form of expression. I think Hughes' whole presentation may be 
an attempt to give the current scene a benign image which the media won't be
so quick to proclaim harmful. Associate the rave with concepts like 
education and nutrition, and the politicos will at least do a double-take 
before meddling, right?

What I am concerned about is that the benefits of VR will be lost on those 
who first experience it in the viewer-passive context of the rave. And
that the rave experience as it currently exists will come to define 
VR technology in the popular media. The "gosh wow" factor is driving 
too much of the progress in VR: greater realism (the grail of real-time
ray-tracing) is pushed for instead of more substantive kinds of interactivity. 
And this trend will continue as long as access is generally limited to
three-minute bursts, as long as the "meat toy" aspect is emphasized.

Likewise, the rave environment could be enriched by putting some of the
stimuli under consensus control; using sensors, human or otherwise,
to make the experience truly interactive- tribal culture, shared hallucination,
creative empowerment. Until then, it's just a really great party.