An Artifact
Truth or Consequences opened as a browser-based world.
The film's reconstructed places opened as an immersive web experience, carrying documentary scenes, archives, music, and sounds recorded in town into the browser.
Launch the experience ↗- Period
- 2020
- Status
- Complete / Archived
- Form
- Immersive web documentary
The project
As an extension of Truth or Consequences, An Artifact opened the virtual worlds created for the film as an immersive web experience. These explorable spaces combine documentary scenes, Bill Frisell recording the improvised score, archival footage from the area, and audio captured in town. Until then, the worlds had only been experienced by the people who made them. The first iteration opened the reconstructed Artesian trailer park in a desktop browser, where the past, present, and future intertwine.
The film already contained a series of virtual places reconstructed from documentary footage: Yvonne’s trailer, George’s museum, Philip’s trailer park, and the spaceport. Claire Hentschker, Elliott Mitchell, Hannah Jayanti, and I built them as places we could enter with virtual cameras. An Artifact opened those spaces to an audience.
Inside the browser, documentary scenes, archival footage, field recordings from town, and studio sessions of Bill Frisell improvising the score inhabit the reconstructions. Until then, these worlds had only been experienced by the people making the film. The first public iteration opened the Artesian trailer park, allowing the film’s past, present, and speculative future to occupy the same place.
The web experience was developed with Adam Paikowsky, Arthur Longbottom, dotdotdash, Hannah, and Sentient.Art.Film.
Source landscape / point cloud
The Artesian Trailer Park, before it became an interface
This is the reconstruction beneath the first public iteration of An Artifact. The same trailer park can be explored directly here, then entered below as a documentary interface.
My role
I creatively led the virtual worlds built for the film and the visual and spatial direction of their transition into An Artifact. I worked with Claire Hentschker, Elliott Mitchell, and Hannah Jayanti on the reconstructed places, then with Adam Paikowsky, Arthur Longbottom, dotdotdash, Hannah, and Sentient.Art.Film on the web experience.
Selected credits
- Alexander Porter
- Creative Lead / Collaborator