I am fascinated by the idea of creating electronic life forms, and entire computer generated worlds existing only as pulses of electricity on a circuitboard.
Recent developments in nanotechnology influenced my construction of the figures in 'Iconworld', each is a little virtual machine working on the matrix. In my interactive work I set a mood that makes the user feel like he/she is communicating with an alien intelligence inside the machine, expressing the new aesthetic of the technology. In this sense I don't attempt to capture the real world, but rather one that has been created inside the computer and can only exist there, it is impossible anywhere else.

'Iconworld' is an interactive journey through a fictional virtual world. In this virtual world primitive life forms and deities have developed - new life forms only existing as digital information. 'Iconworld' is a fictional ritualistic interface where people outside the digital matrix can interact with the new world inside. Users click on text and buttons in order to move through a 3D animated world of information creatures and 'knowbots'. It is divided into subworlds accessed through a 3-dimensional main menu. Each world contains animations, information, and entities relating to particular themes. Each of these phases or subworlds contains certain types of entities. This analogy makes the work a huge graphical database with the information and images sorted into all different categories. Each of these categories communicates with the user in a different way, and thus the user's interaction with the computer changes. Chaos subworld is full of viruses and system errors, Techno subworld is a grid-like matrix of rooms containing information, Biotech contains a crystalline entity inside an egg, Naturetech world contains a self-replicating fertility program, and so on. 'Iconworld' is set up in a way so that users can sit down and interact with the invisible computer in the way pre-linguistic societies would conduct rituals around a totem or shaman. (Troy Innocent)

Technical Background

HW: Macintosh MCI, Video Projection System, Stereo Speaker System
SW: Macromind Director, Swivel 30, Adobe 3.0, Soundedit

Troy Christopher Innocent (AUS), born 1971; 1988 VCE, Art/Science course; 1991 Diploma of Graphic Design at Swinburne School of Design. Group Exhibitions, include 1990 Ausgraph ’90 Art Show, Melbourne; 1990 “Virtual Landscape ” show at Artspace, Sydney; 1990 SIGGRAPH ’90, Dallas, USA; 1991 SIGGRAPH ’91 - poster graphics for “cyber”. Video work includes: 1990 Cyberdada manifesto, funded by Australian Film Commission. Awards: 1990 New Image Research Grant from Australian Film Commission; 1991 Picture Skew award for outstanding Computer graphics.