by J. Nathan Matias

Experience in the Creative Act

Even the freeform, hypertextual audio tour is too structured for some purposes. So the museum motivates people to explore by highly encouraging photography. Visitors with cameras notice the detail of Eastern State's chaotic beauty much like those who have passed through 142 ways to mark time begin to notice the music in the penitentiary's unique sound. Once a place of dread and punishment, the penitentiary has become a work of interactive art to be continually viewed anew, reinterpreted, and re-presented by the thousands that visit.

Photography takes us off the beaten path in our quest for the right angle or an interesting subject. Visitors who use their experience make beautiful new media from their unique perspective find that their appreciation of the subject is much deeper than it would be otherwise. Creation becomes the gateway to true observation.