EVENT: Un de r pres s ure, an interactive installation at Sand Point Naval Station (7400 NE Sand Point Way, Building 11). Participants in inflated latex suits and vision-limiting goggles interact in a closed environment. Open daily 4-7 pm, through May 24.
What ideas are you exploring here? "I'm playing with limiting the senses, the visual versus the tactile. It's been a year now that I've been doing that, and I've had trouble with what the final product should be--sculpture or video. It's more of an installation for me at this point."
Is there a way that while people are inside interacting, people outside can watch, or do you have to be in it? "That's the whole thing. You're not performing for someone else--it's more of a personal experience. I put people in there, and I'm going to know who they're in with. It could be a friend, but they won't know. It could be an enemy."
So there's some social engineering involved. "I'm interested in self-consciousness. That's where it started from. Somehow, people being in those suits, they become more natural. I've had people try them on and get really wild. I had two guys recently, and one was just trying to hump the other guy. Cutting off that social bond that tells you you shouldn't do that."
Has anyone freaked out? Sensory deprivation is kind of frightening. "Not so far. But in the waiting room, I'll have a TV with a video playing and instructions on how to put the suits on. So there is where the first weeding out is going to happen. I'll decide whether or not they'll be able to do it."
