Virtua Obscura

“Imaging Place” was born of an attempt to apply the history and theory of photography to virtual reality. The project has roots stretching back to Mozi (470 BC to 390 BC), a Chinese philosopher credited with the discovery of the principles behind the pinhole camera which lead to the advent of the camera obscura by Iraqi scientist Abu Ali Al-Hasan (965-1039 AD) in Basra. Photography has always relied on the frame and the point of view. “Imaging Place” attempts to breakdown the frame, and the recipient determines the point of view, not the author. “Imaging Place” borrows from the traditions of documentary photography and filmmaking. However, it departs from those traditions by using nonlinear narrative structures and immersive tellepresence made possible by computer technologies and telecommunications networks. The result is still an image or representation, but now audience can enter, explore, have adventure in and ultimately participate in its making.