Beyond Manzanar: Constructing Meaning in Interactive Virtual Reality

Beyond Manzanar is an interactive 3D virtual reality artwork. It is written in VRML and runs off the hard drive of a fast gaming PC. It is shown as a room installation with the image projected life-sized on a large screen. One user at a time can navigate through the 3D environment in first-person viewpoint using a simple joystick; other can watch and share the experience. The piece explores parallels between experiences of Japanese Americans imprisoned at the Manzanar Internment Camp in Eastern California during World War II, and Iranian Americans threatened with a similar fate during the 1979-‘80 hostage crisis. The physical environment of Manzanar, strikingly similar to the landscapes of Iran, creates a poetic bridge between two groups linked by the experience of being “the face of the enemy.” Beyond Manzanar is an exploration of the capabilities of virtual reality to provide a strong dramatic structure and still involve users in creating their own narrative, adding a sense of participation and responsibility for the events that happen to them in the course of their explorations.