Lisa Frank's wide open art cave (3D immersive cave experience)

[JS Online]

…There are fewer than 10 CAVES© in the country that allow for a fully immersive 3D virtual environment. CAVES© are typically used to prototype new devices, in this case, an unprecedented collaboration made possible by researcher Patricia Brennan and her Living Environments Laboratory who opened Madison’s CAVE© up to an experimental art project….

Once Frank had access to this unique tool for her MFA exhibition, she began collaborating with Nathan Mitchell, a computer science graduate student with expertise in virtual realities. Together, they converted Frank’s digitally manipulated nature photographs into six virtual environments, which viewers experience as though they were the size of a tiny person from The Borrowers. This allows Frank’s audience to consider the wonders of nature from an atypical perspective. …

In the nest, the viewer can peek inside of an egg shell or fly above the nest and into the hazy tree canopy. In another environment, the viewer can slip through a narrow passageway from one room to another. In the bleeding heart room, bright pink blossoms appear as if they are going to hit the participant in the head. In the mushroom diorama, viewers can explore the underside of a mushroom and or encounter a pulsating mycelia. Even sober, sophisticated, academic types duck for objects that do not really exist and make Dead Head-like comments such as, “Wow, I’m inside a flower.” One participant asks, “Is this the future of TV?” Another replies, “It already is.” …

See the full story here: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/135585078.html