Portal — as The Experience

I initially exhibited Portal in a different physical embodiment and with an exterior level entitled Cosmic Waves. The Experience consisted of a sound-proof, all black, 5 foot enclosure with an interior stool. Cosmic Waves accompanied it in order to provide the ‘magic’ view of the invisible participation of the Universe in the TRNG within The Experience. Based on the Wilson cloud chamber, I designed an electronic version of the particle detector in order to avoid the use of dry ice, which allowed for the portable, continual viewing of the numerous invisible alpha and beta particles passing by and through us at all times.

During the initial exhibition of this piece, title The Experience, the auditory responses within the private booth were recorded for my later review. Upon review, it was interesting to note various patterns of response that I discovered, based on the dictation and signals matched to the time stamps as well as my knowledge of many of these initial visitors. Responses varied dramatically, and this deviation provided intriguing insight into the reception of a piece regardless of artist intention. Some kindly requested for the visions they saw to play with them, return, or in other ways asked for engagement. Some _demanded_ that the visions do as they commanded and were determined to control them. Some were quite terrified of entering and if they did so, were frightened by what they saw or saw nothing. Still others spoke in a flirtatious or sexual manner to the visions. When I asked these initial participants about their experience, there were indeed those for whom images of childhood and a playful fairy experience came to mind — this group consisted of women of all ages and children regardless of gender. For others, all men in this case, they said that they wanted to know what to say to get the vision to ‘behave’ and wondered why they could not ‘touch’ “her” with some form of hardware controller. Still others admitted they felt the piece might be ‘evil’ or were simply nervous about such an unfamiliar experience — this group consisted of various genders, though no children. The last group, which consisted of all males, spoke to me about how they found the visions aesthetically pleasing, enjoyed that “she” gave them a “private dance” and that “she” did not speak or any way try to control them.