While architecture’s role in reforming the prison system may be arguable, incarceration is undoubtedly a spatial issue. The prison isolates the criminal at a safe distance from the public by restricting him or her into an irreducible space deemed habitable. Punishment is calculated along a spatial–temporal matrix; the more severe the crime, the more punitive the space and the longer the prisoner is condemned to it. A touch screen is the interface for this intricate and politically charged interactive video game. Upon entering the gallery, the viewer is confronted with an LCD screen displaying a matrix of crimes selected for their severity and moral ambiguity: drug use, sexual deviance, insider trading, conspiracy, disturbing the peace, unlawful conduct, illegal immigration, etc. After a crime is selected, the screen renders an initial cell design as an interactive panorama. By pointing the screen in any direction, left–right–up–down, the view is displayed as a virtual transparency aligned with the space beyond. As the viewer adjusts the confinement according to parameters of hard/soft, opacity/transparency, and dumb/smart, the screen displays the resulting cell design in QuickTime VR.
User interface rendering
