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Browning and Barbier have collaborated, on and off, since the mid 1970's. Although they don't always work together, they have many skills and concerns in common, and living together magnifies and intensifies their shared ideas.
They both grew out of an art context which was closing the door on structuralism and minimalism. Working in video at the time made them automatically iconoclasts: crusaders for a populist, political, anti-establishment stance in art, using a medium which most artists and art professionals saw only as "cheap film" if they saw it at all. They were dedicated to the proposition that cutting edge art was not content poured into the container of a medium, but rather an investigation of the new possibilities that a new medium offered. They have continued to probe the potential that new technologies make available, believing that original content arises from a dialogue between an artist and a medium. In addition, this dialogue need not need not be solely between the "Artist" and the medium; authorship can be extended to the viewer, making her a participant, through instruments like microphones and video cameras, and more recently computers, biofeedback devices, dna scans, etc.
These beliefs and attitudes coupled with the exponential growth in new technologies have borne fruit in the ever increasing use by artists of previously unthought-of tools and media, from the internet to genetic manipulation, from plastic surgery to virtual reality and video games. This is not to suggest a kind of technological determinism, in which artists and ideas merely respond to technological developments, but rather to celebrate the curiosity which leads artists to look for new means of expression in even the most unlikely places.
Their work continues to seek out new forms and vocabularies. In the 1970's, they began using analog technology to create interactive environments to provide a structured context for creation and play, producing live works involving viewer participation. The 70's and 80's also saw numerous collaborations with performers, using media on stage as part of the storytelling or choreographic presence. The added dimension of networking technology which allows for a direct relationship between local and global opened numerous possibilities including providing contexts for interaction with others across the world. One joint project, Home, took advantage of this in two ways. It was originally a work of net art, providing interaction by allowing viewers to journey through a virtual house. In its recreation as a networked virtual reality environment, it allowed viewers to see themselves and others as avatars and to have live voice communication in the context of a large scale VR display system (the CAVE).