The Pearl

The Pearl is an interactive, multi-linear video installation that explores how narrative content and information are conveyed, how meaning is negotiated among author, content and viewer, and how the subjective nature of truth can be manipulated by media. In this work, projected as a 12' x 9' image on a gallery wall, twelve actors perform the same monologue. The footage has been edited utilizing midi and video sequencing technology into segments that either default to randomized playback, or are triggered by the viewer via the user interface. The monologue is addressed directly to the viewer, traverses much emotional terrain, and implies an existing relationship. Construction and deconstruction of the monologue's meaning via the randomized playback and viewer control create shifting perspectives of the content. This paper serves as documentation of The Pearl's origin, production, and exhibition, and endeavours to contextualize the work within select interactive narrative research, theory and academic framework.