Shiftscape is a defamiliarizing spatial experience enabling visual control of the scenery beyond a window. Defamiliarization is a two-step process of introducing participants to an ostensibly ordinary environment, and then of disrupting this familiarity as they move through space. Users' spatial movement affects video imagery of scenery viewable through a window that is embedded within a wall that appears to be a natural extension of the space. The critical moment for defamiliarization occurs when participants realize that they are a part of the scenery; their movement correspondingly affects the horizon line, which is used as a central compositional device to bring about a sense of disorientation within the participant.
Shiftscape was my thesis project at Parsons School of Design, and on display at the Aronson Galleries as part of the Design + Technology Annual Thesis Exhibition from May 26 - June 10 2005.
