An Interactive multimedia and online installation by Brian Johnson

“Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich.” – Plato

4 Walls will be an Altman-esque ensemble piece, four characters, four converging narrative threads, four acts, four simultaneously visible screens, and four collaborating users. Each user controls the narrative arch of one of the four principal characters, triggering the playback of individual shots or sequences while simultaneously creating/collaborating in the score of the greater narrative. They do this by interfacing with an online representation of one of a number of musical instruments. Each note that is selected on a given instrument is linked to a particular shot within each act. The challenge for users is to find a happy medium between musical and narrative coherence.

This story is about four people whose lives become increasingly intertwined as the geographic and social space of the city they live in collapses around them. Manjit, who has recently immigrated to Vancouver in order to attend grad school, struggles with a culture that seems cold and unwelcoming. Paul’s company has recently purchased Manjit’s run down apartment building, now he much evict him on the eve of his family’s arrival from India. Meanwhile Manjit has been helping Heather recover files she has lost on her computer – complex soundscapes charting neighborhoods within the city. One of the neighborhoods she frequents is the run down area where her sister has been of late sleeping on the street.

The psychic damage each character suffers begins to be redirected towards those around them. Like mice overpopulating in an enclosed space, the animosity between individuals intensifies as their proximity to one another becomes apparent. What could be a matrix of healthy relationships is denied due to issues of class, bigotry, and trust. The characters must recognize their complicity with the forces that cause other’s pain. Only then is there the hope of a more essential reconciliation, healing, and the creation of community.