Pilgrimage in Digital Art: Reconceptualization of Immersion in
Contemporary Digital Artworks
Dogasu Sitil 11644559 Bachelor Thesis University of Amsterdam New Media & Information
16.12.2019
Table of Contents
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
Chapter 1. New Media History 7
1.1. The ‘Newness’ in New Media 7
1.2. Immersion as a Travelling Concept 9
1.3. The Precursors of Immersion 10
Chapter 2. History of Virtual Reality & Augmented Space 12
Chapter 3. Digital Art 15
Chapter 4. Pilgrimage as a Mediation 17
4.1. Medieval Pilgrimage 18
4.2. Pilgrimage in Osmose & Ephémère 21
4.3. Pilgrimage in Janet Cardiff’s Video ‘Walks’ 25
4.4. Pilgrimage in Viola’s ‘Five Angels for The Millenium’ 27
Conclusion 29
Footnotes 31
Appendix 32
Abstract
Until recently, the feeling of being present in another world was understood as being inherent to virtual reality technologies, which are renowned for producing immaterial simulations that purportedly serve scientific and entertainment purposes. The desire for travelling to remote places, yet, appears to be an intrinsic urge that found expression in different periods of time across history. From three-dimensional frescoes surrounding the walls of Baroque churches to illuminated spectacles of 19th century panorama to phantasmagoric visions that were reflected by magic lantern, a myriad of past media forms effectively brought forth the notion of immersion to beguile the perception of spectators and absorb them in illusionary worlds. Aside from the ocular-centric techniques of immersion that trace back to these precursors of media history, digital art brings a spatio-temporal immersion to life by combining multimedia sources that encompass mobility, three-dimensionality and sensory simulation. In comparison with commonly held assumptions about the immateriality of digital art, however, scholars have previously shown that the materiality of new media objects reside in their capacity to appeal to perception and alter our state of consciousness. Along similar lines, some studies have
demonstrably pointed to the potentiality of interactive technologies in arousing transcendental emotions such as awe. By adopting a media archaeological approach, this research endeavours to recontextualize the experience of immersion in the framework of digital artworks that encompass video installation, virtual and augmented reality. On the basis of visual analysis of several digital artworks, this paper argues that new media art could be understood as an extension of a
primordial human experience, namely medieval pilgrimage. Seeing new media beyond their technological affordances, this thesis presents the practice of pilgrimage as a spatio-temporal mediation that resurrects and becomes tangible in contemporary digital artworks as such.
Key Words: Immersion, augmented space, digital art, pilgrimage, media archaeology, virtual reality
Introduction
Long before the burgeoning of art, the power of image resided in its capacity to plunge human beings into mythical beliefs and illusionary worlds. In prehistoric times, mirror cabinets were believed to open up the doors to other dimensions. The supernatural figures that were painted on Lascaux caves were brought to life through torches and chanting (Rheingold 1991, 379). Later on, in the middle ages, moving panoramic images were deemed to be clairvoyants that migrated across different times and places and subsequently tethering the viewers to distant “beings” (Grau 2003, 279). In response to a deep-rooted human yearning for remote places, frescoes that enveloped the high ceilings of Baroque style churches effectively brought their spectators to divine worlds. In literature, readers took on a journey through the realm of fictitious characters and settings; and thereby engulfed them in the flow of narrative storytelling. In a similar vein, the realm of Phantasmagoria (Gunning 2004) captivated us by phantom figures which rendered the corporeality of the body obsolete. Although such visceral absorption was understood as being inherent to virtual reality technologies until recently, the transmigration of the “soul” (McLuhan 2013, 283) to other dimensions and a sense of presence—what media scholars call ‘telepresence’— in other worlds have been an essential part of our interaction with these immersive spaces that spread to discrepant media forms across history.
There is no wonder that the immersive effects facilitated by the illusionary precursors of media history similarly find expression in contemporary artistic practices, yet, seemingly
reincarnates in other concepts today. In conjunction with art and digital media, the contemporary artistic practices significantly point to a shift from ocular-centric immersive experiences to a spatiotemporal immersion augmented by three-dimensionality, movement and sensory stimulation. Such all-encompassing effects of immersion in new media denote common assumptions associated with virtual reality technologies as well as "augmented spaces”
(Manovich 2006, 220) where the physical environments are submerged into layers of “dynamic information” (220). In this context, some studies have previously drawn our attention to a wide range of areas from scientific projects to museums to gaming where immersive techniques inherent to virtual reality technologies are being used (Azuma et al. 2001). With regard to
commonly held beliefs, virtual reality technologies are renowned for their potential to fascinate us by the immateriality of simulations, which blur the boundary between what is real and imaginary. However, the academic discussions point that the concept of virtual reality de facto extends far beyond its technological affordances that are celebrated for taking us merely into computer-generated, fictitious worlds. Rather than detaching us from the reality we are living in, it has been claimed that virtual reality broadens the perception of our reality by casting a light on our shared cultural values and historical experiences that otherwise might lie hidden to us. In light of this, the feeling of being present in an alternative world, for instance, appears to be a deep-rooted experience that traces back to the engravings of Lascaux caves. The “materiality” (Brown 2010; Hayles 1999) of new media objects thus do not stem from their physical existence but rather reside in their embodiment of abstract representations and perceptual constructs such as emotions. Being similarly contrasted with their analog forms, contemporary digital artworks appear to defy such conventional assumption about the immateriality of new media by bringing forth new ‘potentialities’ (Ryan 1946, 26) to the scene. Accordingly, digital art embodies immersive techniques that alter our state of consciousness and hence leave material traces behind. In light of this, several scholars indicated that interactive technologies engender transcendental emotions such as “awe” and “elevation” (Gaggioli et al. 2016, 169).
Whether it be the spatiotemporal immersion or the telepresence embodied by virtual reality, we can clearly recognize that media discourses and objects as reincarnating phenomenon that render the rigid comparison between new media and their old analogies (Gitelman 2006; Steuer 1992) redundant. Rather than identifying new media directly with digital technologies, the studies mentioned above invite us to discover the potentialities of digital media objects such as digital art. In the broadest sense, few scholars arguably consider digital art as an experimental arena, which does not merely give birth to a critical understanding of our digital era but also fosters lively experiences (Soccini 2016, 148). With respect to these arguments, I am going to cast light on an uncharted aspect of digital art by presenting the ‘materiality’ (Brown 2010) of the medium, particularly in its capacity to mirror the human mind and become the ‘extension’ (McLuhan 2013) of historical experiences like ‘pilgrimage’, which has been primarily at the core of tourism studies until recently. Being successors of the immersive technologies discussed
above, this paper seeks to convey how digital artworks that comprise video installation, virtual and augmented reality could be understood as an extension of the experience of pilgrimage; and thereby materialize this primordial experience by rendering it tangible in the world of digital art practices today. In what follows, the research question that I am going to address is: On what grounds could we consider digital artworks to be an extension of the experience of pilgrimage?
In order to answer this question, this paper will be divided into four chapters, which will shed a light on historical and academic discourses revolving around the notion of digital media, immersion, pilgrimage and virtual reality respectively. First chapter is going to focus on the restrictive definitions exclusive to new media by bringing forth several arguments that defy the ostensible immateriality and fixity associated with new media objects as such. In light of this, we are going to embark on a journey through the precursors of ‘immersion’ and see how different spaces of illusion left engulfing imprints on spectators across history. In Chapter 2, I am going to touch on discrepant ideas that virtual reality has denoted since the end of the twentieth century. Additionally, Manovich’ concept of ‘augmented space’ will be brought to attention as to further reconceptualize virtual reality in today’s digital artworks. In Chapter 3, I am going to provide insight into the materiality of digital art in the sense of its capacity to embody human experiences and hence give birth to new possibilities of perceiving new media art. Before delving into to the visual analysis of numerous case studies that this paper focuses on, I am going to present media archaeology as a guiding epistemological approach to understand the history of new media; to discover the assumed discourses that make it both different and, at the same time, similar to other media forms that are conceived of beings merely residing in the past; and more broadly, to give a glimpse into means by which media developments can be traced historically as such. More importantly, I am going to adopt “digital visual methodology” (Gilbert 2018, 577) as to bring forth the remediation, and hence resurrection of the notion of ‘immersion’ through the artistic expressions that are embraced by contemporary digital artworks. In Chapter 4, I am going to briefly enunciate the experience of medieval pilgrimage by primarily touching on concepts such as ‘immersion’, ‘telepresence’, ‘liminality’, ‘potential’, ‘mobility’ and ‘spatio-temporality’; and thereby establish their relation to several digital artworks by Char Davies, Janet Cardiff and Bill Viola respectively. Seeing pilgrimage as an immersive as well as transcendental form of
mediation between discrepant times and spaces, this research is once again going to give an insight into the extent to which new media can break down the concrete boundaries between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ by proposing the coexistence of new with human beings and more importantly, their reincarnating experiences.
Chapter 1. New Media History
1.1. The ‘Newness’ in New Media
There have been long-standing endeavours to define what is ‘new’ in the phenomena of digital media. Some scholars have established several characteristics that differentiate digital media from their old precursors by drawing our attention vastly alterations in the ‘reception, creation and dissemination of new media’ (Lister 2008, 13). In this respect, new media are divided into “digital, interactive, hypertextual, virtual, networked and simulated.” (13). Furthermore, the association of digital media with quantitative conversion of data into algorithmic arrangements that are embedded within software (18) has led to a customary assumption about new media, which are recognized as intrinsically immaterial.
The attribution of such concrete definitions to new media, yet, has been hotly debated among media scholars because of their exclusive, and more importantly misled connotations. Against this background, Bill Brown (2010) crucially draws our attention to the multifaceted accounts of materiality; namely, “sociological, phenomenological and archaeological” (60) meanings that demands first and foremost our recognition of ‘mediated experiences’ rather than focusing on a restrictive distinction that relies on the tangible existence of objects. By bringing forth the perspective of “new materialism” (50), Brown substantially renders the perceptual influence as well as mediation of digital media as material as the media objects that occupies physical space. As opposed to the commonly held belief about fixed notion of materiality, digital media entails materiality in the sense that they foster our engagement with physical environments through the ‘embodiment’ of abstract notions such as “time, culture and space”
(Hayles 1999, 245) by mediation. In light of this, phone talks, the writer Jonathan Steuer (1992), for instance, has presented the ‘materiality’ of phones (78) in terms of their potential to generate an electronic world where one feels the presence, which he also calls “telepresence” (76) of others. In this sense, the material effect of phones resides in its ability to generate lively experiences rather than its ‘physical’ hardware as such.
Furthermore, it has been argued that we simultaneously overshadow their historical coevolution and coexistence with old media forms by default (Lister 2008, 13) by ascribing such rigid distinctions and characteristics to new media. In an attempt to uncover the multifariousness of media history and hence convey the potential lying beneath its objects and discourses, media archaeologist Eric Kluitenberg (2011) propels us to follow a “a discursive approach” (50) whereby he sees the history of media as residing in lively ‘narratives’ rather than ‘apparatuses’ (48). In this view, media history is prominently approached as embracing “fluid” (49) media objects or in other words “artifacts” (Huhtamo & Parrika 2011, 3). Accordingly, history is argued not to be a linear progression but is rather defined as ‘inventories’ where the past memories and representations wait for resurrection in the future (Lister 2008, 64). As opposed to the common understanding of the concept of history as merely being a time-machine that unravels past discourses, it is argued that media objects simultaneously provide us with “implicit encounters with the past” (Gitelman 2006, 5). In light of this, the media historian Lisa Gitelman presents the term “telepresence” (4), which refers to a feeling of being present in distant places, as an old notion that has already appeared with the emergence of old media forms such as telegraph but did not acquire recognition and familiarity until the emergence of virtual reality discourse. As such, this kind of definition opens up the doors for media to travel across the past, present, future media technologies. In this sense, the rigid distinction between the digital and obsolete media forms, which are identified with notions such as “forgotten” (Zielinski 2006, 9) and “primordial” becomes redundant. Rather than following a chronological development and becoming obsolete over time, media objects embody the revival of old traditions, which are perpetually remodeled by a wider frame of sociocultural implications; thereby acquire new ontological and phenomenological meanings. Essentially, what makes ‘new’ about digital technologies is understood as new technical affordances through which the past phenomena
remediate and gain validity again. In doing so, they bring forth deep-rooted experiences pertaining to past and leading us to discover about ourselves everyday even more.
1.2. Immersion as a Travelling Concept
Media objects depict a kaleidoscopic nature as they potentially “disappear and reappear” (Huhtamo 1997, 221) in different periods of time across history as outlined in the previous section above. In light of this, one of the fundamental concepts that has perpetually prevailed the media history, and in the meantime, acquired new meanings as well as a means of artistic expression is ‘immersion’. Until recently, the notion of immersion has been seen as being inherent to ‘virtual reality’ technologies whereby one —whether it be physically or perceptually — feels displaced to a “fictional world”(Klich&Scheer 2012, 206; Geroimenko 2014; Werry&Schmidt 2014). What is particularly interesting, yet, that such illusionary sense of being present in an alternative realm in essence resides in art (Ryan 1946, 65) and, by extension, prehistoric practices. Etymologically deriving its meaning from the experience of baptism , the1 term ‘immersion’ initially resonated with this physical phase of sinking into water in several sources. In accordance with this, immersion entails the submergence of mind in an overflowing sensory stimulation engendered by another reality (Murray 2017, 124) that pervades and challenges our perceptual field. Along similar lines, the experience of immersion is seen as the transportation of body into a cognitively confronting environment where one feels being subdued by a “mass substance” (Ryan1946, 68). Looking through the lens of artistic discourses, immersion is understood as an emotional as well as mental absorption in which the perception of time and space becomes detached from real life and subsequently leads one to go through “a passage from one mental stage to another.” (Popper 2007, 181).
From above mentioned definitions, it is evident that the phenomenon of immersion has found expression in a myriad of concepts. In order to reconceptualize immersion in contemporary artistic practices, namely digital artworks, it is important for us to cast a light on how these concepts found life in different media forms across history. In light of this, the
spectrum of ‘immersion’, which spreads over a vast range of visual practices is as diverse as fresco paintings.
1.3. The Precursors of Immersion
“In media, we move in the realm of illusion.” (Zielinski 2006, 10)
From the beginning of the 4th century, images were celebrated for their capacity to not merely become carriers of knowledge but also for their power to engage viewers with depicted stories by appealing directly to perception and awakening profound emotions (Miles 2006, 45). Along similar lines, the captivating power of images found expression in frescoes that surrounded the high ceilings of Baroque style churches towards the end of the sixteenth century. In connection with the synthesis of architectural design with images, the employment of numerous painting techniques, which predominantly encompassed depth-evoking styles of perspective, incontestably engulfed church visitors in the realm of divine figures that mounted up to heaven like, open-air space stretched towards up in the sky. Simultaneously, techniques such asTrompe l’oeil , which comprised the use of technical nuances such as lighting and perspective 2 orchestrated realistic deceptions; constituting what is called “mimesis” (Grau 2003, 15). Aside from the realistic depictions of spiritual figures, yet, the three-dimensionality of frescoes thoroughly spoke to the senses by embedding the viewers in an illusionary presence of divine saints (Maravall 1986, 75). As such, these vigorous spectacles have considerably become instrumental in imbuing church visitors with a sense of devotion and worship. Correspondingly, Baroque churches overshadowed the passive reception of realistic images peculiar to Renaissance in the sense that the reception of mythical stories depicted in frescoes were accompanied by rituals such as “wanderings and prayers” (Cubitt 1998, 74) which further enhanced the spatio-temporal absorption of visitors in these transcendental spectacles.
2 “a style of painting in which objects are depicted with photographically realistic
In the nineteenth century, the illusionary frescoes were taken over by large scale panoramas that became “mechanical spectacles” (Lister 2008, 121-122) and “old fake reality” (Manovich 2001, 139) of the visual culture. These illusionary technologies effectively achieved a fusion of drawn spectacles with the physical space and design of architectures where the three-dimensional view of the depicted spectacles was enhanced particularly by faux terrain . In3 the broadest sense, the blurriness between the physical space and the imaginary eventually led the spectator of panorama to feel a sense of presence in these large-scale drawings. Alternatively, faux terrain is usually complemented by the use of subsidiary light effects, which rendered the image as a pure and direct signifier of the real. By facing the impossibility of comparing these frameless, luminous and all-embracing images to their exterior surroundings, thus, spectators were engulfed in an absolute deception. As such, one of the panoramic artworks emblematic to these illusionary effects is unequivocally The Sedan Panorama (Grau 2003, 96), which purportedly enveloped the audience in a feeling of being actually present in the Battle of Sedan; accompanied by faux terrain and marching sounds, the luminous spectacle of German soldiers effectively diminished the panorama’s connection to real space and thus engulfed the spectators in “a second world” (97). In this sense, it is worth mentioning the religious resonance of images in their effect to travel across time and space, transgressing the boundaries of immediate physical reality. In a similar vein, we can trace such transcendent notions in the reception of early moving and circular panoramas as they were believed to carry a “travelling clairvoyant” (Huhtamo 2013, 348) embarked on a journey through remote locations with the rolling appearance of panorama. In attaining a kinesthetic feature, moving panoramas purported to represent a mediator between the living and dead ‘souls’; becoming vehicles where “Under God’s direction, the angels unroll” (Huhtamo 2013, 349).
In the same way panoramas and baroques churches immersed viewers in illusionary reflections of natural landscapes, divine spectacles (frescoes) and battlefields (The Battle of Sedan), the realm of early cinema greatly achieved shifting the attention of spectators from their physical surroundings to the world depicted on the screen. One of the earliest forms of cinema,
3 Comprised of real objects positioned in front of the large scale depictions, accompanied by discrepant light and sound effects(Grau 2003, 54).
magic lanterns (Gunning 2015, 19), for instance, devoured the spectators immensely in uncanny and magical worlds embodied by ghostly figures, which were the mere projection of light. Being a successor to these phantom projections, Phantasmagoria (Gunning 2004, 33) emerged in combination with a range of rudimentary audio-visual effects—such as rumbling thunder and misty smoke—that prominently served to the otherworldly as well as suspenseful tone of the projected visions. Particularly, the rapid and illusionary movement of mobile projectors further generated a sense of shock as the spectators abruptly confronted objects enlarged by the movement of lanterns towards the screen (35). In a similar vein, phantom rides (Wilson 2016, 254) took the viewers on a “vicarious journey” (Gray 2019, 186) through natural landscapes whereby the viewers were immersed in the experience of observing a moving train. In light of this, such early cinema forms what Gunning calls “cinema of attractions” (Gunning 2006, 382) are argued to be “exhibitionist” (382) in essence; meaning that they did not merely lure viewers into linear narratives but rather fascinated them with spectacles of shock and “curiosity” (Gunning 1993, 4). Along with the development of other earlier forms of cinema culture such as stereoscopic films, which profoundly captivated the spectators in a visual and auditory environment (Grau 2003, 154), it is worth noticing that cinema initially burgeoned as an immersive medium that appealed to multiple senses and thereby created illusionary spaces, which affected viewers both psychologically and emotionally.
Chapter 2. History of Virtual Reality & Augmented Space
The discourse that revolves around the definition of virtual reality has greatly evolved since its emergence for the first time in the beginning of the twentieth century. Until recently, virtual reality has been commonly credited with computer technologies, which did not merely embody artificial realms but also simulate a myriad of human activities from calculating to book keeping (Ryan 1946, 25-26). Particularly after the burgeoning of internet, virtual reality became unequivocally started resonating with ideas of ‘disembodiment’ and ‘cyberspace’ (Steuer 1992, 73) whereby humans dwelled in fictitious, “nonexistent worlds” (Ryan 1946, 27). A popular understanding of virtual reality is associated with material technicality capable of producing
immaterial as well as three-dimensional surroundings; simulations (Steuer 1992, 74), or in McLuhan’s words, “computer-generated environments” (McLuhan 2013, 152) that are predominantly produced by technological devices such as “goggles, sensory gloves and head-mounted displays” (Hillis 2013, 512), and hence are mainly premised on the design of digital codes (Klich & Scheer 2011, 206). As being a medium comprising head mounted displays and joysticks, the definition of virtual reality is largely being overshadowed by its use for
scientific and entertainment purposes such as “flight simulations and games” (Soccini 2016, 145; Heim 1994) respectively.
Looking through the lens of a media-driven perspective, however, the historical accounts and precursors present virtual reality as a socio-cultural, philosophical and artistic concept by touching on a number of elements that go beyond its technical definitions. In medieval times, novices who were guided through the underground caves of Lascaux were engrossed at the sight of supernatural drawings that gained three-dimensionality through the reflection of lamplights and accompanying chanting. Rather than merely alluding to virtual reality’s technical affordance of three-dimensionality, however, what draws our attention here is the sense of presence felt by the novices in the illusionary world that is depicted on the walls of these caves; an archetypal human desire of leaving the immediate surrounding to be actively present in a distant place (Grau 2003); the notion of ‘telepresence’, which encompasses a feeling of intellectual as well as physical presence in a “mediated environment” (Steuer 1992, 75).
On the other hand, contemporary painters such as Lucio Fontana (Soccini 2016) unequivocally manifests ‘non-digital’ elements that give birth to virtual reality through the use of depth, dimensional space immersion along similar lines. By cutting through the canvas, for instance, Fontana does not merely manipulate the two dimensionality of the canvas but at the same time introduces the spectators to an experience beyond the expected by playing around with the spectator’s perceptions of time and space—by immersing them in a new dimension and information provided by the cut (147). With this in mind, we inevitably come across a philosophical concept of virtual reality, which derives from an Aristotelian distinction between “potentiality and existence” (Ryan 1946, 26). Virtual reality, in this sense, is the conversion of immediate awareness of reality into potentiality, which invites us to explore and unveil an
invisible state of consciousness (Schwarzpaul 2007, 5). Char Davies (Penz et al. 2004, 103) similarly takes a critical stance against the ostensible impression of virtual reality as incorporeal “techno-utopian fantasy” (69). He further moves on to suggest that virtual reality accommodates an exploration of the world around us differently than our accustomed ways of thinking about ourselves. In other words, virtual reality expands our perceptual understanding of being embodied “in the flow of life through space and time” (71) and releases us from our familiar frames of reality. With this in mind, another perspective that defies the association of virtual reality immersion with absolute disembodiment and acknowledges its fragmented definition in today’s digital surroundings, in particular, is Lev Manovich’s concept of “augmented space” (Manovich 2006). What he substantially draws our attention to is our physical spaces that are interspersed with multimedia information, which he describes as “the physical space overlaid with dynamically changing information.” (220). In this view, he does not merely see the “electronic and visual information” (221) as the modern conceptualization of virtual reality but also argues that the spatial form of our physical spaces plays a significant role in enhancing the immersive experiences embodied by such virtual reality forms.
By looking beyond the technological affordance of virtual reality and seeing it not as exclusive to digital technologies (Mondloch 2013, 153) in this sense, we can evidently notice that virtual reality emerge in combination with a myriad of concepts such as potentiality, a sense of telepresence, immersive “experience” and movement that it evokes (Soccini 2016, 413). As the scholar Mark Hansen further suggests, virtual reality is not bound by the digital connotation prompted by new media but rather a concept that is affiliated with human history; perpetually synthesizing a lively embodiment of human desires and relations (Hansen 2006, x) with our devices; in other words, combining our socio-cultural experiences with “the nonhuman parts of the natural world” (Hillis 2013, 512).
Chapter 3. Digital Art
The use of digital technologies has become an inseparable aspect of contemporary art practices today. Accordingly, it is argued that digital art critically reflects, and at the same time expands our understanding of our embeddedness in the digital age. Being preeminently
conceived of as a hybrid medium, digital art employs digital tools and technologies to exhibit art that comprises a combination of multiple media forms (Manovich 2001, 140; Simanowski 2013, 134) such as “sound, text and video” (Gilbert 2018, 575). Along similar lines, digital installation art denotes artworks that embrace digital technology such as editing (Mondloch 2013, 150) or “computer graphics” (Bolter & Grusin 1999, 143).
Regardless of their affiliation with technological devices and techniques, however, these artworks share a significant similarity, so-called immersion with their non-digital counterparts just like the old media forms we have noticed in the previous sections (Mondloch 2013, 152). This similarity inevitably evokes the French philosopher Ranciére’s concept of “the life of art” (Ranciére 2010, 122) in which he suggests the idea that artworks are not merely a medium for artistic expression; but they also symbolize the “belief” and “way of living” (123) that pertain to the historical period in which they come to being. In this sense, an artwork aesthetically
embodies a historically-bound ‘spirit’, which travels across history while mirroring its own canon. In doing so, as he recites, the artwork simultaneously becomes permeable to new
‘developments’ and reinterpretations. Building further on this view, digital art is presented as as a door opening up to future; as a form of mediation that does not merely reflect on the present mode of beings but also the potential mode of ‘becoming’ (Cubitt 1998, 5) in the digital era that we are living in. Furthermore, digital art is presented as ‘experimental’ spaces where humane experiences take precedence over the transmission of “imaginative knowledge” (Soccini 2016, 148). To put it another way, digital art becomes an “experience of self-knowledge” (Montolio 1994, 182). In a similar vein, few scholars critically propose to break down common tendencies towards undermining the position of human beings in ‘post-human’ age, which is purported to be an era of technological disembodiment and fragmentation of human existence. Alternatively, it has been argued that ‘post-humanism’ is synonymous with our “embodiment and
embeddedness” (Wolfe 2010, xv) in our technologies. Digital art, in this sense, equally retains the position of primordial as well as humane discourses by showing the capacity to embody immersive and transcendental experiences (Rodriguez 2019, 13; Elliott 2006, 17).
Looking back over the concepts such as virtual reality, immersion and digital art, we can acknowledge that media objects and representations are achronological what Zielinski (2006) calls “attractions” (34) travelling across time and space; being perpetually shaped by the technological and socio-cultural environment that they are embedded in. Building further on Ranciére’s conception of art, we witness in a similar vein how media narratives perpetuate in different periods of life just like spirits that reincarnate in new means. Against this background, media archaeology, which will be a fundamental approach to recontextualizing the concept of immersion in today’s digital artworks, admittedly endeavours to break free from customary ways of thinking about new media and conceives of it as sites in which old representations resurrect and perpetuate through a repertoire of technological advances. In relation to this, the media archeologist Erkki Huhtamo (1997) metaphorically portrays media archaeology as an act of excavating “cyclical” (222) and recurrent motifs that travel, “reappear and disappear” (221) across history. In other words, media phenomena embody neglected residues and “scenes” (Zielinski 2006, 8) that wait for being excavated and rediscovered. Thus, an archaeological approach towards media compellingly confounds standardized thresholds between what is supposedly ‘old’ and ‘new’ (Elsaesser 2019) and instead brings forth transparency. Whether it be a reincarnated ‘spirit’ or a ‘window’, it is essential to approach media objects and discourses as a dynamic accumulation opening up for new reconceptualizations and bringing back intrinsic, lively experiences as such.
In the chapter that follows, I am going to move the concept of digital art beyond its technical affordances and refer to their so-called ‘potentiality’ in the sense of digital art’s capacity to remediate a deep-rooted experience by analyzing how the embodiment of immersion in digital art—namely, video installation, augmented reality and virtual reality artworks— hence, can give birth to Brown’s ‘materiality’ by invigorating the faculties and memories peculiar to pilgrimage (Avram 2016, 148).
Chapter 4. Pilgrimage as a Mediation
“The history of technology has always been the history of its myths and utopias, revelation of human yearning...” (Grau 2003, 278).
Together with deceptive nature of our past and present media forms, which have become a harbour to artistic expressions and immersion throughout history, it is worth noticing how they have evolved in relation to spiritual beliefs and mythical discourses. Looking through the lens of historical as well as artistic precursors—in terms of their embodiment of immersion—of virtual reality, we have witnessed numerous motifs occurring in each form. Regardless of the fluidity in describing the notion of immersion, it appears to be a term that retains universality in the way it speaks to the viewers. In light of this, prehistoric images and large size figures depicted in early panoramas have drawn our attention to a deep-rooted human desire for distant places and ‘beings’ (Grau 2003). In the realm of textual narratives, a sense of ‘presence’ achieved through an emotional and visceral immersion in the setting as well as the characters of stories have led the viewers to embark on fictitious voyages (Ryan 1946, 90). Movie techniques pertaining to early cinema, in particular ‘cinema of attractions’ that have become synonymous with phantom rides and magic lanterns, pulled us away from our immediate surroundings to ‘astonish’ our visual perception temporarily. The gigantic frescoes and stained glasses that were accompanied by chanting, prayers stretched over the high walls of Baroque cathedral and dragged the church goers to an alternate world; the world of the ‘divine’. Including the transcendental promises that fostered the essence and reception of ‘cyberspace’, an illusory sense of presence in alternative worlds and quest for transgressing the corporeal body and taking a journey to remote places has admittedly been inherent to human history until today. In a similar vein, Oliver Grau further epitomizes this when he mentions the allegory of pilgrimage to contemplate on reception of ‘The Battles of Sedan”; c ompellingly claiming that it was “a place for pilgrimage” (Grau 2003, 97). There is no wonder that his claim resonates with the spatial and temporal immersion experienced at the sight of early panoramas. What is particularly interesting here, yet, is his use of the word ‘pilgrimage’, which implicitly shares similar feelings of immersion as experienced in the
precursors of visual culture, and more importantly, media. In the following lines, we are going to embark on a historical journey through the early accounts of medieval pilgrimage and explore philosophical as well as media-driven concepts that bind the virtue of pilgrimage to contemporary digital artworks.
4.1. Medieval Pilgrimage
In the realm of the medieval times stretching back to 200 B.C. (Rosewell 2017, 51)
pilgrimage was admittedly a sublime experience that acquired cultural as well as religious universality (Pazos 2012, 2) by prevailing numerous religions from Christianity to Buddhism.
The physical journey of pilgrimage to so-called sacred lands such as Jeruselam, Rome and Santiago de Compostela itself is believed to be a metaphor for human life; it represented a lifelong journey that was a “prelude to an eternal life” (Ashley&Deegan2009,10; Pazos 2012, 1) in which pilgrims seek to shed light on the ‘meaning of life’ (Beckstead 2010, 4). The motivations lying behind these voyages varied significantly from seeking penance for commited sins (Ashley&Deegan 2009, 10-11) to cure diseases—as pilgrims believed in the mystical powers of saint’s relics (60). In most of the studies, pilgrimage is also characterized by its potential to entail an inner as well as physical journey (Mihály 2015); inner in the sense that pilgrims who travelled across long distances to reach sacred shrines and temples are known to acquire a spiritual salvation through “self-knowledge” (Barber 1991, 103)—also described as the discovery of the “self” and “ultimate reality” (Pazos 2012, 199)—or overcoming perilous obstacles, such as drought, unfamiliar and threatening habitats, war that they are confronted with en route to the sacred shrines (Oldfield 2014, 192; Taylor et al. 2010, 250). Most significantly, some pilgrimages are driven by adventurous impulses and wonder about foreign lands (Ashley&Deegan 2009, 62) rather than devotion.
With regard to anthropological studies, the experience of pilgrimage comprises a transformative process and series of actions more than just the geographical travel. Pilgrimage, as argued by the anthropologist Victor Turner, embodied a ritual process what is commonly known as “rite of passage” (Turner 1974, 56), which entails two influential phases embedded in
pilgrims’ lifetime experiences: “separation” and “transition” (56). As far as the transition concerns, Turner refers to the term “liminality”: the etymology of the word derives from ‘limen’, which means ‘threshold’ (72). In this context, liminality embodies twofold meaning as it does not refer to a literal or physical border to be crossed so much as it figuratively denotes a transformation from one psychological as well as social state to another (Oldfield 2014, 181). During the process of their transmigration to sacred shrines and symbolic saints, it is believed that pilgrims detach themselves from daily activities and social affairs, and instead step into the realm of the saints and divine temples; a realm what Tuner defines as a “temporal interface” (72) that goes beyond the time and space of the mundane world. In this regard, the geographical journey of pilgrims turns into a spatio-temporal voyage whereby they leave behind their accustomed surroundings and conditions, customs such as home, family, seasons (57)— to embark on unknown, yet, holy lands that embody their beliefs. In other words, pilgrims go through what the historian Anton Pazos calls a “temporal suspension” (Pazos 2012, 198) whereby the pilgrim travels both backwards—to the origins of saintly relics—and forwards—the final destination of the soul— in time. Correspondingly, some early accounts describe this phase as a transcendental transition from the profane world “towards God” (Ashley& Deegan 2009, 10) and ‘afterlife’. In line with this understanding, the saintly relics and shrines, which are believed to embody the earthly presence of saints (Taylor et al. 2010, 167), almost take on the role of a “medium” that does not merely mediate a reciprocal bond between “the God and the pilgrim” (108); but also constitute a mystical ‘door’ opening into another dimension. Travelling both in time and unknown spaces, as Turner contends, pilgrims do not merely experience ‘liminality’ in the sense of transition; but also in the sense of “potentiality” (Beckstead 2010, 387; Turner & Turner 1978, 3). The unfamiliarity of visited destinations did not merely sink pilgrims into divergent worlds; but also aroused curiosity as to what to expect en route to these holy lands. In another sense, potentiality stems from finding more about one’s identity and equally dissolution of the consciousness into space and time of myths and old beliefs.
Another compelling aspect pertaining to the experience of medieval pilgrimage is admittedly how the liminal and spiritual phases simultaneously radiated through an ‘immersive’ atmosphere; in this sense, many sacred sites of pilgrimage orchestrated a devouring enchantment
whereby pilgrims found themselves in a ‘physically and emotionally’ (Rosewell 2017, 57) altering state as such. This immersive experience, in particular, consists of aural as well as visual techniques. For instance, the early accounts of pilgrim visits to Canterbury Church attribute pilgrims’ awe for Trinity Chapel to numerous features: firstly, pilgrims were greeted by the magnificent sight of the towers of the church, accompanied by the sound of the church bell ringing from far distances (57); then they are guided through preselected routes, passing by glowing and dispersed beams of light radiating through stained-glass windows and large-scale, transcendental sense evoked by three-dimensional frescoes surrounding on ceilings (Oldfield 2014, 192) , which almost resembles a theatrical performance. As such, it is argued that while these visual displays effectively become a testament to the revival, and therefore, the presence of saints in the “immediate experience” (Blick & Tekippe 2005, 257) of pilgrims, the music of chanting that accompanied this engrossing experience further blurred the boundary between the profane and eternal world (Taylor et al. 2010, 463). Additionally, the unfamiliarity of pilgrimage sites as a whole enhanced the immersion of pilgrims in an otherworldly realm (Beckstead 2010, 387). In conjunction with ritualistic enactments such as chanting, prayers and strolling around the shrines, these sites thus rendered the experience of pilgrimage intrinsically “motion-centric” (Scriven 2014, 252).
According to previous studies conducted by some media scholars media has been understood as the bridge between not merely the temporal and spatial distances and people but also between the worlds of the spiritual and mundane—pertaining to that of people— by providing us with ocular visions and feelings of transcendence (Meyer 2008, 126-127) in the same way religious practices immerse us in a divinely presence by being the mediator between the world of ‘here and now’ and the world of the ‘divine’, as we have vividly seen in the saintly relics embedded in the experience of pilgrimage mentioned above. Alternatively, it has been argued that the reception of movies equally resonates with the mediative potential of the sacred shrines. In this sense, the cinema scholar Sobchack (2008) articulates how the viewers leave their “bodily immanence” (197)— namely, one’s awareness of his or her perceptual reception bound by the present— and dwell in the realm of screens. On the other hand, interactive technologies
such as virtual reality are argued to serve as an essential medium that serves to fulfill “spiritual and psychological needs of human beings” (Gaggioli et al. 2016, 173) by primarily stimulating a feeling of transcendental emotions and cognitive faculties such as “awe, admiration and elevation” (169). Developing on its affiliation with cyberspace, virtual reality—with its capacity to lure us into ‘other worlds’— compellingly engenders fascination that echoes mythical and spiritual connotations (Ryan 1946, 65). With this in mind, it is interesting to see how the process of mediation in media forms such as virtual reality and cinema arouses a transcendental feeling of sacred presence that is admittedly embodied by religious practices.
4.2. Pilgrimage in Osmose & Ephémère
In Char Davies’ interactive installations Osmose (1995) and Ephémère (1998), the participants who wear a vest equipped with sensors, which track bodily movements and balance, and a head-mounted display are exposed to luminous visions of a constantly growing and wavering nature. In light of this, the participants embark on a luminous journey through immense natural landscapes and elements, which comprise “forest, leaf, cloud, pond, subterranean earth and abyss” (Davies 1998). Char Davies presents us an aural and visual space premised on semi-transparent visuals that are overlaid on a vertical grid as we can see in Figure 2. In this “translucent” (Davies 2000) realm, there is no notion of worldly concepts such as gravity, nor there are distinct boundaries between the natural objects. Tethered to the sensory vests, participants perpetually float through glowing landscapes.
Fig.1. Photo of “Tree Pond” in Osmose (1995), Fig.2. Photo of “Forest Grid” in VR Installation by Char Davies. Immersence. Osmose (1995), VR Installation by Char Davies, Immersence.
The erratic vision of semi-transparent forms wherein one can see the burgeoning of multiple other layers become the symbol of state of consciousness: these unfamiliar visions brings forth a new apprehension of our embodiment in the world as “beings” (Penz et al. 2004, 69); communicating and opening up new perceptions of ourselves that are otherwise hidden to us in our habitual lives. What we might recall from this scenario is the mythical liminality of pilgrims who detached themselves from the concrete representations of daily life and instead are absorbed in the abstract divinity of the sacred places. The ambiguity created by visions further gives us room to look at the world from different angles rather than focusing on their presumed mode of being. Visual images are accompanied by bass tones of female and male voices, which further create a meditative tone that resonates with chanting. The predominance of cyclical transformation in these glowing visuals remind us of the salvational state of pilgrimage in believing the presence of afterlife; rocks perpetually appear and disappear; trees fall on the ground and regrow again (Fig.1); appearing in different colors from darkness to lightness.
Fig.3. Photo of “Forest Stream” in Fig.4. Photo of “Rock & Roots” in Ephémère (1998), VR Installation by Ephémère (1998), VR Installation by Char Davies. Immersence. Char Davies. Immersence.
What is peculiar to Davies’s installations is the interdependence between the visual experience and the breathing exercise of participants. By breathing in and out, participants navigate their space in the visual environments— they either ascend or descend in this translucent realm. This compellingly resonate with the ritual enactments of pilgrims who performed chanting and walked around the shrines to ascend spiritually to a divine world. The mobility of our bodies is further accompanied by the wavering dissolution of landscapes and objects such as trees and leaves (Fig.3) through light and the corrosion of visible boundaries between the images. In light of this, the objects come as semi-transparent visions, such visceral and psychological experience draws our attention away from our conventional understanding of the worldly objects’ presence to our own existence and being among a myriad of chaotic, erratic, yet, renascent nature we are coexisting with in this world. In other words, the overflow of numerous semi-transparent objects effectively endows us with a transcendental state of consciousness, just like the pilgrims who sought for universal values and tried to perceive our embeddedness in the world through divine connections and rituals. In this sense, we come face
to face with the vastness of nature as vividly depicted in Figure 4. While the pilgrims were fascinated by the saintly shrines and affirmed their bond with God by the presence of these residues, Osmose and Ephémère in a similar vein strengthens our connection to nature by bringing the awareness of our presence and ever-growing mode of being. The spiritual salvation that was achieved through the discovery of the self in pilgrimage here comes to the fore in Davies’ journey, which she presents as not “a means of escape but return, as in a returning of attention, to our own being.” (Davies 1998).
While we transgress transparent ‘thresholds’ of unfolding consciousness and self-realization, the other aspect that connects the immersive journey of Osmose and Ephémère to the experience of pilgrimage comes in the form of ‘telepresence’. Just like the pilgrims who were oscillated between the historical past of saints and the future of the soul, we unconsciously lose track of time and space and become temporarily oblivious to the boundary that separates us from the realm of these translucent landscapes and forms that are embedded within an indefinite time and space. The ‘temporal interface’ represented by the saintly relics, in this sense, comes to the fore in the form of the fleeting and erratic spaces of Osmose and Éphémère. Furthermore, the semi-transparency of objects does not bring the transcendental and psychological ‘liminality’ of pilgrims back but also to its double meaning, namely, potentiality that lies in the exploration of ‘what may become’ as the images dissolve into one another; rendering the transformation unexpected as well as enigmatic. As these landscapes somewhat appears to be in a different shape than we are accustomed to, we sink into unfamiliar environments just like the pilgrims who were engrossed in the unfamiliar environments of sacred temples and use shook off their familiar surroundings to explore more.
4.3. Pilgrimage in Janet Cardiff’s Video ‘Walks’
Fig.5. Night Walk for Edinburgh (2019). Audio & Video Walk by Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller. The LIST.
Fig.6. Alter Bahnhof (2012). Audio & Video Walk by Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller. JANET CARDIFF & GEORGE BURES MILLER.
The writer Michael Kimmelman (2005) resembles the reception of site-specific artworks to the experience of pilgrimage in their effect to engender a journey; the necessity to move to places in order to see those artworks. In light of this, we see the We see the revival of pilgrimage to far and remote lands in the audio-visual artworks Night Walk for Edinburgh (2019) and The Alter Bahnhof Video Walk(2012) by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller.
In the audio-visual walk Night Walk for Edinburgh (Fig.5), the artists compose a narrative storytelling that takes place on the streets of Edinburgh. Building on Manovich’ concept of ‘augmented space’ (the superimposition of digital information on our physical environment), Janet Cardiff guides us through the streets of Edinburgh by narrating a range of poems and tales in the pre-recorded scenes that show up on our mobile phones. Likewise, The Alter Bahnhof Video Walk (Fig.6) guides us to several locations at an old train station in Kassel. What is particularly interesting about these narrations yet stems from its spatio-temporal
immersion; while we listen to Cardiff’s voice in these real-time recordings, we physically roam around unknown corners and places where the footage was captured simultaneously. Being still tethered to our immediate environment, these real-time recordings creates a sense of presence not merely with the performers that pop up on our mobile phone screens but also the time in which the narration takes place. In other words, we find ourselves oscillating between two different spaces as further suggested by Lev Manovich (2006, 226): namely, between what we see and hear; and the time of our walk and that of the narration.
In light of this, Cardiff’s and Miller’s artwork first and foremost resurrects an experience of pilgrimage as we undertake a mysterious and, in Cardiff’s words ‘magical’(fruitmarketgallery, 2019) journey—whether it be through the unknown streets of Edinburgh or the undiscovered corners of an old train station—without knowing where to go next; just like the pilgrims who embarked on explorative journeys to unknown lands. While pilgrims were driven by their
curiosity and quest for spiritual enlightenment, what keeps us to continue walking in this artwork becomes our curiosity for the events that are going to take place in the rest of the narration. Furthermore, such spatio-temporality somewhat echoes the early accounts of medieval
ritual of walking around the shrines, while, at the same time, listening to the chanting and prayers that spring from prehistoric times.
4.4. Pilgrimage in Viola’s ‘Five Angels for The Millenium’
Fig.7. Five Angels for The Millenium(2003), video installation by Bill Viola. Gasometer Oberhausen.
In the video installation Five Angels for The Millenium (2001), Bill Viola offers us an immersive augmented space within the circular shaped walls of a massive monument, so-called
Gasometer ,4 which rises up to 100 meter high. What we initially encounter on these industrial walls is the luminous sight of five large scale displays (Fig.7) that are dispersed across varying latitudes, reminding us of the stained-glass windows that surrounded the ceilings of pilgrim sites. The constitution of a sharp contrast between these bright screens and the darkened interior of the monument instantaneously plunges us into the realm of these floating frames in which the watery landscape resembles somewhat an aquarium. As we find ourselves engrossed in the blurred border between the immediate environment of the dark Gasometer and the radiant displays floating in the air, we inevitably recall pilgrims’ experience of a temporal suspension whereby the past of the saintly relics and their belief in an afterlife detached them from the realm of their mundane world. Such feeling of detachment becomes even more vigorous as the videos move on. In the screens surrounding Gasometer, we subsequently start to see a man figure ascending from water in slow motion, only to realize later he descends into water on another screen. In light of this, the figure follows a perpetuating loop whereby he ascends and descends into water on the screens at different times. What is perhaps even more striking is the fact that the footage of this cycle is being captured from disorienting angles — such as upside down — which considerably gives us the feeling that the world of these screens is unlike our familiar environment that is ruled by gravity.
Throughout this slow-paced transition from underwater to sky (or vice versa), we do not merely witness a transformation of light from violent red to calm blue; but we are also
accompanied by the reverberating audio of deep water and bubbles. The wavering sounds that echo in the fascinating acoustic of Gasometer compellingly brings forth a cathedral-like aura; this audio-visually immersive atmosphere compellingly resonates with the ritualistic enactments of pilgrims who felt the revival of saints through chanting and shrines. In this sense, Viola’s audiovisual videos ontologically shift from being a mere medium to an extension of
consciousness (Montolio 1994, 186) by creating a spatio-temporal passage to the experience of pilgrimage. In conjunction with slow-motion editing and the change in light from red to blue, the cyclical movement in water becomes a metaphoric threshold. Correspondingly, this becomes
4 A historical as well as industrial monument in Oberhausen. It was previously used for storing excessive amounts of gas released by the steel industry/production(Gasometer Oberhausen, n.d.).
emblematic of the experience of a transcendental liminality whereby the pilgrims
psychologically felt themselves being in the presence of divine saints and equally believed in the resurrection of the soul in the afterlife.
Conclusion
The primary pursuit of this thesis was to reconceptualize the notion of immersion in contemporary artistic practices. In doing so, this paper sought to shed light on the extent to which our new media objects can break down conventional understanding about our post-human era by bringing promising possibilities of the digitalization to the scene. By adopting a media archaeological approach, which presents media objects and discourses as travelling concepts perpetually appearing and disappearing across different times in history, we initially embarked on a historical journey through the ostensibly archaic media forms in which immersive experiences burgeoned.
While we recognized the existence of immersion as an entrenched concept that jumped from the caves of Lascaux to magic lanterns, we incontestably came across a deep-rooted human desire for feeling a sense of being present in remote places and times, in other words ‘telepresence’. What was deemed as being merely inherent to computer-generated technologies do date, thus, equally came to the fore in these precursors. Seeing thus media discourses as recurring phenomenon, or in Zielinski’s words, sensations rather than new and disembodied concepts, it is evident that newness in new media is merely defined as the technological advances of our media objects. In light of this, versatile meanings residing in the concept of virtual reality attest to a new understanding of ‘materiality’ of new media; the capacity virtual reality as a medium, in this sense, extends far beyond computer-generated simulations. Building further on Manovich’s concept of augmented space, virtual reality has evolved to expand the perception of our physical surroundings and leave material traces by altering our state of consciousness. In a similar vein, we have admittedly witnessed the similarities that new media forms share with their analogies in the context of artistic expressions. As such, the historically bound spirit of digital
artworks is emblematic of the enduring position of human beings in post-human era as they have become experimental arena for humane experiences.
Having established the fundamental discourses revolving around the new potentialities of digital media and their undeniable connection to the archaic forms of immersion, this research endeavoured to unveil the grounds on which today’s digital artworks could be an extension of a transcendental as well as spatiotemporal immersion that is once associated with one of the precursors of illusionary spaces, The Battles of Sedan. That is being said, the findings extracted from the visual analysis of several digital artworks unequivocally presented new media artworks as being —both ontologically and aesthetically— an extension of a primordial human experience so-called medieval pilgrimage. In this respect, the translucent realm of Osmose and Ephémère by Davies immerses us in the erratic visions of natural landscapes where dissolving visuals become unfamiliar to our accustomed perception of trees and water streams. While this highly resonates with pilgrims who go through liminality in the sense of leaving their familiar surroundings behind, the interconnection between our breathing movements and mobility in the installation remarkably echoes a spiritual salvation by drawing our attention to ourselves and, more importantly, our embeddedness in the world. Seeing the experience of pilgrimage as a temporal interface that does not merely lead to a ‘temporal suspension’ from the mundane world but also engender a mediation between the past myths of saints and the future of the soul, the translucent landscapes become inseparable from our physical surroundings and let us step into an indefinite time and space. Along similar lines, the video walks by Cardiff and Miller bring us back the physical as well as mystic journeys that pilgrims went through by engulfing us in narratives that are taking place in our immediate surroundings. While we find ourselves on the blurred boundary between the time of these narratives and that of our walk, we recall pilgrims who travelled back and forth between the past myths of saintly relics and the present. Lastly, the luminous screens that are hanging on the cathedral-like aura of Gasometer resound pilgrims’ ritual enactments that gave birth to an altered state of consciousness. With the slow-paced and disorienting footage of a repeating cycle, Viola prompts us to take our time to reflect upon our fleeting, yet equally transcendental existence just like pilgrims who were absorbed in the presence of saints and the belief in an afterlife.
That is being said, these digital artworks vividly manifest a primordial form of mediation by bringing mobility, spatio-temporal suspension and liminality into scene. In doing so, they demonstrably show us that the potentiality of new media essentially extends far beyond their technological associations and unequivocally lie in their capacity to unleash deep rooted practices pertaining to past. By being not merely an ‘extension of man’ but also a lively extension of human experiences, it is worth noticing that digital art, and more broadly, digital media bring universal experiences back to life; and thereby lead us to discover more about the yearnings that render us human.
Footnotes
1. “Definition of IMMERSION.” 2019. In Merriam Webster. Accessed November 14, 2019.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/immersion.
2. “Definition of TROMPE L’OEIL.” 2019. In Merriam Webster. Accessed November 22, 2019. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trompe+l%27oeil.
3. Grau, Oliver. 2003.Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
4. Gasometer Oberhausen. n.d. “History.” Accessed December 11, 2019.
Appendix
Fig. 1. Davies, Char. 1995. Osmose, VR Installation by Char Davies. Accessed 14 December 2019. http://www.immersence.com/publications/1995/1995-MJJones.html.
Fig. 2. Davies, Char. 1995. Osmose. VR Installation by Char Davies. Accessed 14 December 2019. http://www.immersence.com/publications/1995/1995-MJJones.html.
Fig. 3. Davies, Char. 1998. Ephémère. VR Installation by Char Davies. Accessed 14 December 2019. http://www.immersence.com/publications/char/2004-CD-Space.html.
Fig. 4. Davies, Char. 1998. Ephémère. VR Installation by Char Davies. Accessed 14 December 2019. http://www.immersence.com/publications/2003/2003-OGrau.html.
Fig. 5. Cardiff, Janet and George Bures Miller. 2019. Night Walk For Edinburgh, Audio & Video Walk by Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller. Edinburgh, Scotland. Accessed 14
December 2019.
https://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/110210-night-walk-for-edinburgh-the-virtual-world-be comes-part-of-your-physical-world/.
Fig. 6. Cardiff, Janet and George Bures Miller. 2012. Alter Bahnhof. Audio & Video Walk by Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller. Kassel, Germany. Accessed 14 December 2019.
http://www.cardiffmiller.com/artworks/walks/bahnhof.html.
Fig. 7. Viola, Bill. 2003. Five Angels for The Millenium. Video Installation by Bill Viola. Gasometer, Oberhausen, Germany. Accessed 14 December 2019.
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