Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Intramediary presence : body, interactivity and networked distribution in immersive virtual reality art
This thesis is concerned with the ways in which the medium of immersive virtual reality has been utilised in the art context since the early 1990s, with a view towards the contemporary relevance of the medium. Artworks that have been realised through both Head-Mounted Display (HMD) and CAVE Automati...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Michaelis School of Fine Art
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867614264676581376 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Leibbrandt, Tim |
| author2 | Richards, Colin |
| author_browse | Leibbrandt, Tim Richards, Colin |
| author_facet | Richards, Colin Leibbrandt, Tim |
| author_sort | Leibbrandt, Tim |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | This thesis is concerned with the ways in which the medium of immersive virtual reality has been utilised in the art context since the early 1990s, with a view towards the contemporary relevance of the medium. Artworks that have been realised through both Head-Mounted Display (HMD) and CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) systems are discussed. The first chapter uses the 1993 Solomon R. Guggenheim exhibition 'Virtual Reality: An Emerging Medium' as a starting point in order to introduce the defining concepts of immersion and interactivity into the discussion. Thereafter, the second chapter is focussed on the body in relation to immersive virtual reality, examining the idea of virtual disembodiment in detail. This discussion is influenced by William Gibson's dichotomizing of "meatspace" and "cyberspace" in Neuromancer (1984). The psychological effects of avatars (the virtual body that surrogates for the physical body in virtual reality) are also looked at. The third chapter extensively discusses the ideas of agency, interactivity and narrative in relation to expanded immersive models of cinema that incorporate active audience participation. Gonzalo Frasca's video game theory concepts of "ludology" and "narratology" are applied, as are ideas of agency from Brenda Laurel's Computers as Theatre (1993) and Janet H. Murray's Hamlet on the Holodeck (1998). These notions of agency are also juxtaposed with the problem of passivity within conventional 3D cinema. The fourth chapter concerns cyberspace (defined as a middle-space that emerges between networked telecommunication technologies) and its implications for immersive virtual reality. The chapter concludes with a nod towards the growing potential of the Internet to facilitate the distribution of immersive virtual environment artworks. Finally, the conclusion looks at technological developments that have taken place during the two years that this thesis was written in order to suggest ways forward for the medium. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14245 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:49:17.176Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | Michaelis School of Fine Art |
| publisherStr | Michaelis School of Fine Art |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14245 Intramediary presence : body, interactivity and networked distribution in immersive virtual reality art Leibbrandt, Tim Richards, Colin Lamprecht, Andrew Fine Art This thesis is concerned with the ways in which the medium of immersive virtual reality has been utilised in the art context since the early 1990s, with a view towards the contemporary relevance of the medium. Artworks that have been realised through both Head-Mounted Display (HMD) and CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) systems are discussed. The first chapter uses the 1993 Solomon R. Guggenheim exhibition 'Virtual Reality: An Emerging Medium' as a starting point in order to introduce the defining concepts of immersion and interactivity into the discussion. Thereafter, the second chapter is focussed on the body in relation to immersive virtual reality, examining the idea of virtual disembodiment in detail. This discussion is influenced by William Gibson's dichotomizing of "meatspace" and "cyberspace" in Neuromancer (1984). The psychological effects of avatars (the virtual body that surrogates for the physical body in virtual reality) are also looked at. The third chapter extensively discusses the ideas of agency, interactivity and narrative in relation to expanded immersive models of cinema that incorporate active audience participation. Gonzalo Frasca's video game theory concepts of "ludology" and "narratology" are applied, as are ideas of agency from Brenda Laurel's Computers as Theatre (1993) and Janet H. Murray's Hamlet on the Holodeck (1998). These notions of agency are also juxtaposed with the problem of passivity within conventional 3D cinema. The fourth chapter concerns cyberspace (defined as a middle-space that emerges between networked telecommunication technologies) and its implications for immersive virtual reality. The chapter concludes with a nod towards the growing potential of the Internet to facilitate the distribution of immersive virtual environment artworks. Finally, the conclusion looks at technological developments that have taken place during the two years that this thesis was written in order to suggest ways forward for the medium. 2015-10-14T12:34:45Z 2015-10-14T12:34:45Z 2013 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14245 eng application/pdf Michaelis School of Fine Art Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Fine Art Leibbrandt, Tim Intramediary presence : body, interactivity and networked distribution in immersive virtual reality art |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Intramediary presence : body, interactivity and networked distribution in immersive virtual reality art |
| title_full | Intramediary presence : body, interactivity and networked distribution in immersive virtual reality art |
| title_fullStr | Intramediary presence : body, interactivity and networked distribution in immersive virtual reality art |
| title_full_unstemmed | Intramediary presence : body, interactivity and networked distribution in immersive virtual reality art |
| title_short | Intramediary presence : body, interactivity and networked distribution in immersive virtual reality art |
| title_sort | intramediary presence body interactivity and networked distribution in immersive virtual reality art |
| topic | Fine Art |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14245 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leibbrandttim intramediarypresencebodyinteractivityandnetworkeddistributioninimmersivevirtualrealityart |