The Observer Effect is a virtual reality installation by, Cory Metcalf, and David Stout with guest artist, Reilly Donovan. The Virtual Reality experience takes place within the physical space of a second projected video installation titled, MELT. Viewers enter this “world within a world” encountering an abstract field or landscape populated by fluid geometric forms that generate their own sounds. Physics defines, the “observer effect” as an occurrence where changes are made to a phenomenon as a result of the act of observation. From a rational materialist perspective this result is seen largely as an effect of the instruments employed in observation and not the mind of a conscious observer; however, the mind does play a powerful role in witnessing how tools influence what is under observation. Taken from a different cultural perspective that embraces an animistic worldview, the consciousness of the observer can and does influence other tangible energetic structures. In this work, the VR headset and trackers are the devices impacting the properties of the simulation. The VR apparatus frees each observer to wander and unfold a unique sonic-visual-somatic experience much like a visitor entering an extraterrestrial domain of ambiguous scale and dimension.
