Kurt Michaels
the artist
Kurt Michaels first noticed his talent in the Summer of '97
when he moved from his home up in West Virgina to Atlanta. His taxi
broke down ten miles from his new apartment; he walked the rest of the
way there. His air conditioning went out four times; he survived
worse summers. The conveyor belt where he worked fed itself into a
Mobius loop; they finally made the connection and fired Kurt.
Machines malfunctioned at his touch. He didn't mind, for he didn't
trust them anyway.
Kurt was also a religious person, and he felt he had a calling. He
destroyed machines as self-expression, and had a limited
cult-following. He took no tours, because no car could move him, and
he did no television spots, because no camara could take his picture.
Ten years later, he was hit by a drunk driver, and almost died. He
went through seven respirators before he could breathe on his own.
After this, he went underground for five years, and when he came back,
his art had changed.
the art
Now, Kurt is one of the founding members of IMMERSE, a very successful
computer graphics company. They are working on a virtual reality nature
environment. Right now, Kurt "grows trees" as he puts it, or uses chaos
theory to simulate individual trees and their branch patterns. The
ultimate goal of IMMERSE, and Kurt, is to walk in this forest, see
endangered animals, smell wildflowers, and climb trees.
Kurt's talent hasn't affected his work.
the beret
Kurt's beret is now his lifeline, for it neutralizes his
wild talent. It looks like a baseball cap, with IMMERSE printed on
it. It's made of a grey shimmering fabric, and a black box hangs
down, over his right ear. When you get close to it, you can hear a
faint humming of electronics.
Submitted by Bryan Jonker (jonker@firefly.prairienet.org), on Some day in 1994, from Champaign, IL