BLOWHARD - interactive investigation into the rhetoric of fear culture

BLOWHARD is an interactive investigation into the rhetoric of fear culture, exploiting this carefully crafted atmosphere of anxiety by redeploying it in a breathtakingly new two-player game. Players compete by breathing into a specially crafted CPR mask, where a breath sensor translates cumulative respiration into the player's current level of anxiety, shown on the screen in the same friendly color-coded system used by the Department of Homeland Security's Threat Advisory System. Simply hyperventilating won't work -- players must increase their anxiety gradually, moving up one stage at a time. As the level increases, the media responds, with the video becoming more intense in an effort to match the player's state of mind. The first player to get to the top, wins! Then get prepared for a special advisory alert message from the President of the United States of America!
...Next scheduled appearance will be at the Beall Center for Art + Technology in April 2005.