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Visions of a virtual world

Rarely have I been to an art exhibition where the exhibits themselves encourage you to stand on them. Stepping within a metre of a piece of artwork that isn't protected by bullet-proof glass usually puts the security staff at action stations. But the art work at V-topia is attempting something unique. To redefine the conceptions of art in the traditional sense takes some experimentation and nerve. And some two and a half years in planning and creating, according to its curator, Charles Esche:

"V-topia is not a replacement for conventional galleries, just an extension of their boundaries. All of the work featured is of an interactive nature, providing every viewer with an immersing, personal performance. The people responsible for the artwork are genuine artists who have learned technology as a means of expression, and so use it to exploit creativity rather than promote technological know-how". I was more than intrigued to discover just how computers had been used to create a Virtual Utopia of imagery, and so ventured forth with pen and pad, and an open mind.

On arrival, I was presented with a pair of headphones which would not, as I had assumed, provide me with a guide to exhibits, but was in fact one itself. I didn't discover Susan Collin's 'Audio Zone' until it began to mumble in my headphones, when I dared to venture near an animated video projection. Taking a step further towards the graphics, I was inundated with a cacophony of different instructions. Some were persuasive, inviting me to touch the graphics on the wall, while others were as offputting as the security guards. I declined their cajoling, only to be hear a somewhat desperate voice asking me not to go. Most amusing, if perhaps a little disturbing.

The first installation I purposely discovered was a piece called 'Mirror Images' by Richard Land. A seemingly blank screen invited curiosity which was at once justly rewarded by my reflection staring back at me. To begin with, the installation did nothing more than mirror my every movement, but soon became increasingly responsive, distorting the image until I could bear looking at myself no more. This was one I would not recommend to the shy and retiring.

Not sure I quite fathomed Clive Gillman's 'To Be This Good... Rock of Ages'. It's a Mac-based 'hypertext' work, using the rhyme of 'Monday's Child' to illustrate the theme of a computer-based generation. While its intent was obscure, I found it curiously compelling.

Strolling across the gallery with the intention of visiting the 'Passagen' exhibit, I stumbled across another of those audio zones warning me against stepping on a projected graphic on the floor. Carefully avoiding this mantrap, I entered into Graham Ellard's panoramic creation whereupon I was presented with a touch screen. 'Passagen' is more a film than it is a piece of artwork, but not to have included it on the basis of this argument would have been horribly pedantic. Charles, our curator, put it best when he said that these were bureaucratic barriers, and just the sort of thing he hoped V-Topia would break down. The story behind 'Passagen' is supposed to be loosely based upon German philosopher Walter Benjamin's 'The Arcade Project', and encapsulates the viewer in multi-screened images of Paris, Berlin and London as it evolves into an atmospheric mix of calming narration and mystery.

If I was bemused by Gillman's exhibit, 'Sonata' by Grahame Weinbren confused me to the point at which sentient beings become pre-packed giblets. Drawing much of its inspiration and imagery from Freudian psychoanalysis, 'Sonata' takes the form of a less than linear cinematic story. Pointing at particular places on the screen interrupts the narrative, allowing the viewer to get an insight into past or future events in this twisted tale, and even view it from another character's perspective. While the imagery continues in this tangled state, the audio follows a track of its own, making Weibren's installation a genuine multimedia work.

If the explicit images of 'Sonata' weren't enough for a cold shower, the voyeuristic 'A Room of One's Own' is an interactive version of an early cinematic peepshow. The difference between Lynn Hershman's version and the more conventional of these salacious devices, is that the occupant here is in no mood to be stared at. A brief perusal around the room seems to go unnoticed, but a lengthy gaze is met with great hostility. The installation works by tracking the movements of the eye, as the voyeur gets drawn in by curiosity and the prospect of some rather furtive pleasures, so they get scorned.

Perhaps the most light-hearted of all the installations was the Butler brothers' 'The Dream of Freedom', which to all intents and purposes satirizes the whole concept of a virtual reality in which we can all forget about the miseries of everyday life. A personalised dream of ray-traced animated rabbits in a suburban scenario is created from a series of questions answered by the user using a touch screen. The graphics are bright, colourful and amusing, which is a welcome contrast to other, more melancholy exhibits. Eventually your luck runs out, and for this, one such rabbit suffers horribly by hanging. I laughed aloud, 'though perhaps I shouldn't have.

Bringing together technology and art is a natural process. Much in the way that technology has become a means to an end in the creation of music, so it should in art and graphics. V-topia goes a long way to promoting this, 'though Charles still maintains that they are quite a way off of their goal of a cultural forum for the twenty-first century: "It would be better if we could stop getting excited by technology, and started to think about the concept of the work, rather than the processing power of the computer that it was created on. V-topia was incredibly successful, which was something that we really didn't anticipate".

We may have to wait until 1996, when a new full-scale exhibition is planned, parts of V-topia will be making their way around the country, starting in mid-October at the Bluecoat in Liverpool. The new exhibition in 1996 will feature more new works (the reason it is some way off!), and also workshops for amateur artists wanting a piece of the action.

Utilising existing local cable TV systems, Digital Music Express (DMX) are now offering subscribers a new, more interactive form of music television. Using a system that splits the audio signal from the visual, (giving the option of connecting a hi-fi), the listener will be able to control his or her selection of music, according to taste, using a remote control, ironically enough called the DMX-DJ. This handy remote will zap away irritating VJs, unwanted music, and also provide on-screen information (like titles, current chart positions, artist's names and so on) on request.

The service currently covers the Leicester, Bradford and Bristol areas, with the Portsmouth and Hertfordshire areas planned for the near future. Within a couple of years, and with the help of an Astra satellite service courtesy of BSkyB, DMX hope to have the current thirty channels, catering for musical preferences as diverse as classical, popular, world and jazz, expanded to 90. Just what they will fill the other fifty-odd channels with is anybody's guess, as the choice at the moment is already very broad. Still, with services already successfully installed in a number of countries in Europe, and in the USA, the whole of England will soon be jumping on the groovy train.

To find out which platform the Digital Music Express is boarding at, contact your local cable operator or BSkyB for news on the forthcoming satellite service.