Abstract

My fascination with new technologies lies, in part, in their appearance to function invisibly, like unseen forces possessing miraculous and mysterious powers. My intention in this thesis is to explore these unseen forces, through Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun's 1991-92 virtual environment Inherent Rights Vision Rights. The work Inherent Rights, Vision Rights, as part of the Land Spirit, Power exhibition of 1992, made Canadian art "history" as it was the first virtual reality piece ever shown at the National Gallery of Canada. In this thesis Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun's work Inherent Rights, Vision Rights (1991-92) is explored within the literature of postcolonial identity politics and contemporary theories of virtual environments and cyberspace. Yuxweluptun's longhouse in cyberspace is an invitation for the viewer to understand his Coast Salish culture through cyberspace immersion. The notion of interactivity with a total work of art merits an understanding that new technology is embedded in cultural and social contexts. The result of this new interaction between artwork and viewer (active participant), cyberspace is understood "as a discursive site of ideological struggles that define the relationship between new technology and the subjectivity of the active participant" (Kendrick 147). This powerful tool for Yuxweluptun permits him to expand and explore the issue of identity construction.