The United States of Tara | POD DESIGN llc

The Showtime “House” project is a unique, highly publicized project celebrating its third successful year in collaboration with top architects, interior designers, and media specialists. Showtime pairs them with one of their infamous shows, and the designers are given carte blanche to transform a coveted New York City architectural space in response to the show’s themes. This year, the space was set in the penthouses of Enrique Norton’s recently opened Cassa Hotel and Brooks Atwood was invited to be one of the selected designers. We worked hand in hand with frequent collaborator, UX designer Daniel Perlin. Together, we designed our penthouse space around Showtime’s series, The United States of Tara starring Tony Collette. We took the core ideas of the show (multiple identity dissorder) and imagined a waveform environment in which visitors would have an visceral – almost schizophrenic – experience. We worked fluidly between physical materials and textures, old and new school media techniques, motion tracking, and interactive sound. In addition, an audio work called “Voices in my head” was created. This work could be heard on wireless headphones, giving the spectator a chance to wander the spaces, further creating a sense of disorientation and instability. Opening night was chalk full of red carpets, step and repeats, as well as lots of faces of amazement.