World Skin by Maurice Benayoun

This immersive art project used the CAVE, developed by Carolina Cruz-Neira, Daniel J. Sandin and Thomas A. DeFanti at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago. The CAVE is a room-sized, surround-screen, projection-based virtual reality environment. The year prior in 1996, At the Ars Electronica Center in Austria, EVL set up the first CAVE that was open to the public and showcased several virtual reality artworks. World Skin, by Maurice Benayoun with the composer Jean-Baptiste Barrière, made an immersive space for participants to embark on a haunting “photo safari” through landscapes of warfare. Awarded the Golden Nica Prize for Interactive Art in 1998, the installation confronted viewers with a compilation of visceral images from battle zones, inviting them to intervene by capturing fragments of this grim reality with cameras. Each photographed moment was replaced by a black silhouette, symbolizing the extinguishing of a piece of the world. Through this poignant exploration, World Skin grappled with the significance of media images in shaping our perception of global conflicts, highlighting the paradox of how images simultaneously reveal and neutralize the rawness of human suffering. The work underscores the importance of concept and digital art that spoke to contemporary societal issues beyond simply celebrating technology.