Teri Rueb - Artist Visit

Teri Rueb gave a presentation here at ACCAD last week.  Rueb creates interactive soundscapes using GPS headsets.  In her work the landscape becomes the interface for the interactivity.

In order to experience Rueb's work, participants must visit particular sites, and wander while wearing headphones.  While wandering, the participant will encounter a sound zone.  In Drift, the sounds played are randomly generated and the triggering zones drift in and out with the tides along the site.

During the talk something about the role of the headphones bothered me.  Wearing headphones in public is a common occurrence these days, however it is typically a way for people to cut themselves off from their surroundings, particularly the surrounding people.  Rueb's work seems to be about trying to heighten the experience of place and culture, but it is doing so by using technology which cuts the individual off from their surroundings.  Perhaps for this reason I felt Rueb's Elsewhere : Anderswo was the most interesting.  Because the piece itself is about alienation, the meaning of wearing headphones in public does not conflict with the meaning of the work.

Rueb's work and the technology used have evolved together over the years.  In earlier projects, Rueb had control over the hardware (GPS/computer and headphones), but as GPS devices have become more ubiquitous, the work has shifted to apps which participants can download and use with their own various devices.  This shift has meant Rueb faces a loss of control over how participants experience her work.  She expressed ambivalence regarding how participants interact with apps as opposed to the earlier devices.  She was particularly concerned about participant's fickle attentions when using an app on a multi-function device.

In game design we have an idea called the magic circle, which denotes the in-game world as distinct from the rest of the world.  The magic circle is more of a mindset than an actual space.  It can be identified in aspects of life other than games, particularly within rituals.  When Rueb talked about the mindset she wants to inspire in her participants, I believe she was referring to a form of the magic circle.  While it's true that taking phone calls and such does mean leaving the magic circle, people tend to leave and re-enter the magic circle easily.  I can't help but to think of how easily players move between in-character and out-of-character dialogue when playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.

One of the problems with discussing Rueb's work here, is that I have no first-hand experience with it.  In her talk, she was somewhat apologetic that we could only see her documentation and not experience the work itself.  This is a problem that I have been struggling with quite a lot lately.  The documentation of an interactive work is always a pale shadow of the work itself, and yet we often need to advocate for our work with only the documentation.  In the videogame community a system has been worked out where designers release a trailer to get people interested, then a free demo to allow them to experience a bit of the game without too much commitment, and that will hopefully allow your audience to find your game.  This, however, does not necessarily work well with the academic structure.  Unfortunately, the more typical method of documentation for installations doesn't particularly make sense for documenting videogames.