Virtual Art & Virtual Reality

PLACE-Hampi provides a framework for a new approach to the rendering of the cultural experience, whose aesthetic and representational features gives the general public a dramatic new appreciation of the many layered significations of such historical, archaeological, and architectural spaces. While PLACE-Hampi embodies a single user interaction model, the autonomous narrative scenarios that populate each of the panoramic scenes with

This book chapter historicizes the notion of telepresence, a term coined in 1986. After defining the different forms of telepresence, it shows that, much before computers and virtual reality, old technologies such as correspondence and painting have been used to provide a sense of social telepresence (being with) or spatial telepresence (being there, far away). It suggests a research program for this specific narrative of media history

Mit diesem Titel liegt eine veröffentlichte Magisterarbeit vor, deren redaktioneller Beschreibungstext auf dem Buchrücken einen „Blick über den Tellerrand hinaus“ verspricht. Dieses Versprechen soll sich durch drei Leitaspekte einlösen, die den Einfluss von virtuellen Welten auf das menschliche Verhalten fokussieren, zweitens das Suchtpotenzial und die Isolation von der Außenwelt thematisieren und drittens die neuen sozialen Komponenten beleuchten, die durch die ‚Begehung’ virtueller Welten ermöglicht werden.

Cette treizième édition du Cahier Louis-Lumière nous invite à interroger les formes audiovisuelles complexes, induites par les technologies dites « immersives » – réalité virtuelle, réalité augmentée, réalité mixte – et les modalités de réception qu’elles impliquent. Il s’agit d’en explorer les différents enjeux (techniques, esthétiques, idéologiques, théoriques...), tout en analysant les discours produits à leur sujet.
Nous rendons compte ici des travaux du colloque international qui s’est tenu en avril 2019 à Montpellier et dans nos murs à Saint-Denis, avec le soutien du RIRRA 21 de l’Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3.

In immersive virtual environments (IVEs), users may observe negative consequences of a risky health behavior in a personally involving way via digital simulations. In the context of an ongoing health promotion campaign, IVEs coupled with pamphlets are proposed as a novel messaging strategy to heighten personal relevance and involvement with the issue of softdrink consumption and obesity, as well as perceptions that the risk is proximal and imminent. The framework of construal level theory guided the design of a 2 (tailoring: other vs. self) × 2 (medium: pamphlet only vs. pamphlet with IVEs) between-subjects experiment to test the efficacy in reducing the consumption of soft drinks over 1 week. Immediately following exposure, tailoring the message to the self (vs. other) seemed to be effective in reducing intentions to consume soft drinks. The effect of tailoring dissipated after 1 week, and measures of actual soft-drink consumption 1 week following experimental treatments demonstrated that coupling IVEs with the pamphlet was more effective. Behavioral intention was a significant predictor of actual behavior, but underlying mechanisms driving intentions and actual behavior were distinct. Results prescribed a messaging strategy that incorporates both tailoring and coupling IVEs with traditional media to increase behavioral changes over time.

How the aesthetics of virtual reality and the promise of embodied "presence" have been re-articulated from the camera obscura and magic lantern, through the nineteenth-century's panoramic and stereoscopic formats, and in today's emergent forms of AR and VR.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization officially announced the COVID-19 outbreak as a global Pandemic (WHO, 2020). During this time, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) introduced national preventative measures to slow the spread of the deadly virus by announcing the closure of schools and higher education institutions, and the commitment of online learning. Teaching faculty at the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises (CACE) at Zayed University were suddenly facing the challenge of teaching design through a distance learning approach. As educators of interior design, the authors were part of the team tasked to find ways to teach design without physical contact with the students nor access to campus facilities traditionally used to run the program and its associated courses. This paper charts the pedagogy approach that the authors adopted as a response to the national lockdown. As design faculty, the authors felt that, despite the restrictions imposed on society because of COVI...

When entering modern society, we transform traditional social life with technical methods, disenchanting those illusion generated from mythology and religion since the pre-historic period. German sociologist and philosopher, Max Weber described the unrationalized mentality, which tends to consider those mysterious phenomena as part of life, as “the world remains a great enchanted garden.” Facing the sense of disenchantment within modernity, artists also follow the contemporary current and make use of digital technology to interpret those unseen illusions, dream, and fantasy through the process of data visualization. However, in the spectacle era when visuality takes full control, artists sophisticatedly manage the interactivity of digital media and the aim to create virtual space with imagery, grafting virtual limbs to the viewers’ bodies. In this sense, artists take visuality as the extension of human’s mind, perception, and body, and further enable the viewers to gain real perception. Baudrillard declared that our time has achieved the state of “hyperreal,” and the artistic practice of new media is exactly the way to reveal the reality and exceed the reality; it further simulates a kind of spatial reality with a new reality.

This exhibition takes a peek at the disenchanting ritual during the process of artistic creation of new media, leading viewers to step into the time and space simulated by artists to experience the new perception after their mind being extended. The aim of the exhibition is to tell apart virtual and real senses and to question the so-called “reality” within this context. New media artists try to achieve the state of disenchantment; yet, as enchanting the society, they twist the way we comprehend the world with a new reality.

This paper will discuss two student projects, which were developed during a hybrid course between art/design and computer sciences at Sabanci University; both of which involve the creation of three dimensionally embodied avatars whose visual attributes are determined by data feeds from “Real Life” sources.

In 1999 Frank Biocca's asked several questions on how the representation of the body in virtual environments might affect the mind states of avatar handlers: The effects of embodiment on the sensation of physical presence, social presence, and self-presence in virtual environments; and the effects of avatar representation on body image and body schema distortions. Today, with the wide spread usage of three dimensional online virtual worlds and the extended abilities to manipulate the visual representations of the inner persona, Biocca’s questions would appear to have acquired even greater urgency. While such efforts usually seem to be expected to work towards the concealment of identity and/or inner states of being; can a second approach, one involving revelations of the inner ‘self’ that may in fact go beyond what is available to our physical bodies also be contemplated? Can such ‘revelations’ bring about change, both in terms of human interaction but also in terms of self-perception?

Following up from Biocca's seminal text, The Cyborg’s Dilemma (Biocca, 1999), this paper will describe the creative and technological processes which went into the materialization of these two avatars.

Virtual Reality technologies can play essential role for the success of tourism inventiveness. Hence, this application entitled VR Bukit Puteri is designed and developed as a medium to promote and attract tourists to visit this natural cultural heritage place in Terengganu. This application is particularly very useful for the user to get information or learn interactively about history and artifacts of Bukit Puteri. The interaction design lifecycle model had been implemented in the development of this application. In addition, the gaze interaction technique had been successfully used to add more interactivity and user-friendliness to this application. The framework, interface design, testing and expert evaluation may also serve as guidelines in developing similar VR application in another domain. The author would consider gamification elements, engaging activities, 360’ VR experiences to be proposed to enhance VR applications for the future. These engagement elements can be a great ...

Over a number of decades, studies have revealed compelling relationships between experiences of the natural environment and positive health outcomes in adult communities. These psychosocial health benefits have typically been described via key theoretical frameworks in the health sciences, such as the biophilia hypothesis. Despite the body of evidence for nature design and well-being, propositions for immersive virtual nature experiences are still emerging across the fields of creativity and health. In this article, we identify the potential for immersive virtual nature art as a creative well-being intervention, articulated through a discussion of background literature and concepts leading to the development of our artwork, Inner Forest (2020-21). This article incorporates a transdisciplinary suite of

Experiences of cultural heritage and tourism have been enhanced by the development of digital technologies. In light of this, this paper focuses on the importance of immersive storytelling experiences to encourage visitors’ engagement through VR and the evocative and emotional storytelling of events and contexts.
After an introduction  to the best practices from Italy and abroad in the last years, the paper focuses on the VR immersive storytelling of the 1693 earthquake, which destroyed 70 cities in south-eastern Sicily. The survivors, revealing great resilience, soon rebuilt their cities. The well-known Baroque city of Noto, a UNESCO site since 2002, was rebuilt on another site, so abandoning the destroyed one (Noto Antica).
Through an immersive film in VR (25 min.), commissioned by the Noto Municipality, the last moments of the city are recounted, creating a “digital bridge” between generations to regain awareness of their ancient roots. The VR project stands out for its participatory production process involving a commission  of experts and  3D casting of its modern citizens, and the tragic nature of the event, recounted through the emotional and evocative account of a recent earthquake and the solution adopted following the COVI-19 pandemic (in situ, on YouTube VR and Vimeo).

Interest in immersive experiences in museums and heritage sites has increased in recent years in response to challenges faced by the sector and the potential of emerging technologies. Arts and heritage institutions hope immersive experiences will lead to increased visibility and a culture of innovation, new audiences, more meaningful participation, better engagement, and additional revenue. This is reflected in the Industrial Strategy and the Creative Industries Sector Deal. Cultural institutions have been important early testbeds for immersive approaches and have – often in partnership with research institutions and partners – benefited from investment through UKRI, the Arts Councils and National Heritage Lottery Fund. But attempts to find straightforward connections between investment and outcomes have been inconclusive or resisted.

It is undeniably true that Virtual Reality (VR) has continuously been developed since 1800s and still have been produced till today. However, very few studies have attempted to study on the design of Virtual Reality Graphical User Interface (VR-GUI) that effectively empowers users to interact and immerse in a simulated world, via hardware and software with ease. Therefore, the aims of this research are to compare four different types of VR GUI Controller designs including (2D, 2D animation, 3D, and 3D animation) and to determine UI response time of the Oculus Touch Controller and compare the results with UI response time of Oculus Rift to determine what VR GUI is appropriate for which ages. 168 participants were purposely selected, aged from 12 to 17, 18 to 33, and 34 to 45. The experiment results showed that VR GUI had a significant impact on UI response time resulted from different types of VR GUI controllers. Last but not least, analysis of VR GUI controller user data had suggested that VR GUI developers should design appropriate VR GUI controllers that match all age groups in order for them to experience a fully immersive, perceptually real environment as quickly and efficiently as possible.

‘Seventh Ray’ is a Mixed Reality (MR) platform inspired by Mystery School initiation techniques of the ancient world. The platform employs the latest in perceptual and sensory augmentation technologies to explore the meaning and modern day significance of these ancient ceremonies. The historic texts provide a formula and the new technologies provide the tools to revive these rites into previously unimaginable formulations. The Seventh Ray seeks to explore the combined power of drama with the particular state of awareness one feels when they fully inhabit a mixed reality. Might the MR brain exhibit closer parallels with the ‘book reading brain’ than that of the ‘movie watching’ one? The ancient texts give us a formula; the emerging technologies of VR and AR give us the tools to revive these ancient rites into unimaginable dimensions.

Chapter 1. The notion and conceptions of virtual reality. Chapter 2. "Platonic" senses of the "virtual": the "virtual" as a produced by the activity of the objectively-mental. Chapter 3. "Platonic" senses of the "virtual": naturally-caused subjectively-mental virtual reality. Chapter 4. "Platonic" senses of the "virtual": artificially-caused subjectively-mental virtual reality. Chapter 5. "Aristotelian" and "Plato-Aristotelian" senses of the "virtual".

In this article I propose an approach to a new model of audiovisual representation call virtual playful (MRVL). For this, I rely in part on modeling that focuses on Hollywood cinema, proposed by Jesús González Requena. But, because the object of study I propose is more comprehensive, as it covers various audiovisual media beyond the cinema as deduced from the corpus of work chosen-the Youtube platform, the videogame Stalker and the music video Dancing Anymore - I refer also to other theories and modeling that come from the called game studies. The problem with these studies is that, in general, do
not focus on the substance of the narrative experiences (of which the MRVL assumed its contemporary approach): the emotion and experience of the desire on the part of the
viewer (or better would be called user) through a symbolic horizon full of significance. From this base, I reflect on the type of user who draws this MRVL, for which I have taken the concept of Virtual Self proposed by Ben Agger. For this it would be a person connected to the world through the technological interface; but I redefine it as a user experience that would live within this MRVL that would prevail in a strong narcissism and that, therefore, conclude in an experience empty of sense.

This is my recent contribution to <Art in Culture>, Korean monthly art magazine, as part of my bigger project of writing an alternative lineage of contemporary Korean art scene, say, for the past 20 years.

Limited by time and space, I mainly focused on what I'm tempted to call a 'genealogical turn of media(art)' wherein a disparate group of artists engage with a series of dilapidated media technologies or 'dispositifs' such as shadow play, praxiscope, and phantasmagoria in such a way that even VR apparatus is rendered so to speak 'outdated' in advance.

(Originally I was asked to write about 'main features and prospects of (Korean) video art since 2000 'till now.' In a sense, then, you can read my article as an oblique defiance, if not a downright refusal, to suscribe to the old idea of 'video art' in favor of subterranean mutations set in motion albeit quietly)

Currently being updated, it will hopefully come out as a scholarly article in a revised and expanded format sometime later this year.

The speech explores the seminal role of Digital Management of Arts for promoting the ICCR's mission of trans cultural diplomacy. It discusses the enlargement of the scope of ICCR's contribution for harnessing ex situ storage and display of arts for in situ revitalization of lost memories and languages. This will help in the recovery of the inclusive Indian cultural consciousness and in the fortification of its catalytic role in community regarding sustainable development. The article speaks of the substitution of the real by virtual spaces in the Pandemic as an opportunity to use digital arts for reinvigorating state community links.

¿Nos hará inmortales la realidad virtual? ¿Será la vida un simulacro? ¿Podremos descargarnos en un pen drive? ¿Tendremos relaciones con seres artificiales? ¿Será nuestro futuro poshumano? A todas estas preguntas intenta dar respuesta Teresa López-Pellisa en Patologías de la realidad virtual. Cibercultura y ciencia ficción, una visión crítica de las promesas y los sueños que nos ofrece el espacio digital, a partir de la ficción literaria y cinematográfica.
Tras una breve aproximación genealógica al concepto de realidad virtual, Teresa López-Pellisa propone un diagnóstico de ciertos síntomas que podrían llegar a distorsionar las verdaderas capacidades de los entornos digitales, ofreciendo un panorama crítico en el que se describen, diferencian y clasifican cada una de las patologías detectadas: la esquizofrenia nominal, la metástasis de los simulacros, el síndrome del cuerpo fantasma, el misticismo agudo y el síndrome de Pandora.
Como sostiene el teórico cibercultural Naief Yehya en el prólogo que abre el volumen, Patologías de la realidad virtual. Cibercultura y ciencia ficción es “un libro sobre pandemias mediáticas y aflicciones imaginarias que pueden ser tan reales como la peste negra. Es un ensayo sobre el efecto de somatización masiva de nuestras falacias, angustias y temores en síntomas y achaques que se expresan en forma de cibermisticismo, desprecio de la carne y pérdida de las referencias geográficas entre el territorio real y los mapas digitales”.

How are the virtualized spaces of the Holocaust different from the ones we know from traditional survivors’ testimonies?
This article tracks the evolution of Holocaust witness testimonies from video and 3-D holograms to virtual reality. It argues that The Last Goodbye (2017) - the first-ever Holocaust VR film - reframes the politics of witness testimony around the way VR alters our relationship to real-world spaces of Holocaust memorialization.
By building its argument around the case study of Pinchas Gutter’s witness testimonies (video; hologram; VR), this paper illuminates different ways in which we commemorate and learn about the Holocaust today. Using the USC Shoah Foundation’s
Holocaust Archive as its point of reference, this paper explores epistemological and ethical issues associated with the design and development of contemporary archives of Holocaust memory. Here, Emmanuel Levinas’ notion of the face-to-face relation (rapport de face à face) becomes an instructive theoretical principle that opens the discussion up to notions of human sociality and empathy.

O livro parte das teorias e práticas em torno das imagens técnicas, tais como a fotografia, o cinema e o vídeo, para discutir a cultura visual e os regimes de imagem que surgem com a inserção as tecnologias digitais nos aparatos de produção de imagens, incluindo o vídeo interativo, a realidade virtual, a realidade aumentada e a arte cibernética.

“Este livro que o leitor tem em suas mãos representa o coroamento de uma série de discussões, polêmicas e produções que se estendem pelo menos desde os anos 1960, mas que ganhou um contorno mais definido a partir do final do século XX: trata-se de um balanço do que significou o surgimento das tecnologias digitais nos conceitos de cultura, arte, filosofia e modos de vida. O autor, Cesar Baio, atualiza as discussões anteriores colocadas por autores como Vilém Flusser, Edmond Couchot, Peter Weibel, Júlio Plaza, Lúcia Santaella e tantos outros que as formularam num período imediatamente anterior, sobre como tudo se transforma quando se passa para uma existência digital, não apenas nas imagens, sons e textos, mas também na condução do pensamento, dos novos comportamentos e modos de produção e consumo, da vida contemporânea, enfim. Ele analisa também uma seleção de novos criadores, nos mais diversos campos das artes, que souberam tirar proveito não apenas das novas tecnologias, mas também das novas formas de sociabilidade e de economia política que se formaram ao redor delas.”
Arlindo Machado

“Em Máquinas de imagem, Baio nos proporciona uma acurada leitura da condição contemporânea, atualizando as proposições desenvolvidas por Vilém Flusser sobre os aparelhos técnicos de mediação. Uma perspectiva teórica consistente, radicada na identificação das linhas de forças singularizantes dos fenômenos culturais contemporâneos, considerados a partir da leitura crítica das formulações conceituais predominantes até o início dos anos 1980, mas, igualmente decisivo, desde o ponto de vista da liberdade do artista e do participante implicados na aventura estética”
Antonio Fatorelli

In this paper, I wish to examine corporeality in the virtual realm, through the usage of the (non)-physical body of the avatar. Two sister art installations created in the virtual world of Second Life®, both of which are meant to be accessed with site specific avatars, will provide the creative platform whereby this investigation is undertaken. While the installation “Anatomia” wishes to propel the visitor towards reflections of an introverted nature, involving the fragility of the physical self; “body parts” seeks to challenge the residents of virtual environments into connecting with the virtual manifestations, i.e., avatars, of others in an emotionally expressive/intimate manner.

This diploma thesis introduces the production of cylindrical and spherical panoramas and explains how to link individual panoramas to make a virtual tour. The designing process of the virtual tour of the Dresden University of Technology campus is explained in this work. The author spent his fifth year of his studies (1.10.2004 - 30.06.2005) at the Dresden University of Technology in Germany. The virtual tour of the Dresden University of Technology campus can be found in the
Internet: www.kwiatek.krakow.pl/panotour. In order to view all interactive panoramas one will need to install proper plug-ins that are mentioned on the webpage.

In this text I wish to delve into the creation of textual content as well as its visualization through typographic design mechanisms inside three dimensional virtual worlds, which are known as the metaverse. I am particularly focused upon the way in which such virtually three dimensional environments may place the usage of text within a context that stands in contradiction to its traditional one by creating an unexpected novel purpose which takes a marked departure from the intrinsic attribute with which text has inherently been associated – namely the attribute of readability. In such environments readability, or indeed even legibility, may often be displaced through the usage of text and typography as a playful device, as artifacts which may manifest in puzzle-like configurations, or as visual structures the contents of which are meant to be understood through means other than straightforward reading; thus bringing about states of heightened engagement, wonder and ‘play’ through their manipulation or indeed simply by being immersed within the spaces which are brought about through their very agency. I also wish to expand upon this subject by talking about my own experiments with this material and will conclude by positing that further virtual dimensions can be instrumental in eliciting exciting alternative usages of text and typography which bring to the fore the allographic properties of text as an artistic/creative expressive media that may well bear further scrutiny and exploration.

Beginning in the 1970s, Linotype, a leading type foundry and manufacturer of phototypesetting equipment, undertook the design of new Latinised types designed by applying Latin type design topology to other non-Latin scripts. In return for providing typesetting equipment to the Greek publishing domain,  Linotype guaranteed the supply of types in any style requested. After some deliberations between the interested parties, these types came to be the Latinised Greek versions of Helvetica, Baskerville, Century Schoolbook, Optima, Caledonia and Souvenir.

Even though Córdoba is one of the most important historical cities in Europe, it has usually limited its heritage offer to the Cathedral-Mosque, and its immediate surroundings. To try to resolve this deficiency we have
proposed the “Cordoba in history” project. It consist in the creation of a network of interpretation centres strategically distributed to spread the historical knowledge of Cordoba to different areas of the city. “The Axerquía in time” has been a first pilot project to test some new technologies and their possibilities. This article explains the technical and historical criteria followed in its design, development and implementation.

Artisti, gallerie, musei, istituzioni stanno scoprendo - con qualche anno di ritardo - l'esistenza (e le potenzialità) del digitale. Complice la riduzione forzata delle presenze dal vivo dovuta alla pandemia, assistiamo al fiorire di iniziative di varia natura e diverso spessore culturale: dalle semplici gallery di immagini, all'utilizzo di piattaforme per webinar e talk, all'allestimento di database per sviluppare le vendite online, alla promozione (o produzione) di format innovativi di visita immersiva: un ventaglio di applicazioni del digitale che va dal semplice uso "di servizio" alle sperimentazioni più creative. Come interpretare e catalogare questi fenomeni?

As an emerging technology, Virtual Reality (VR) is perceived as a platform with the potential to change the artwork generation methods and consumption paradigms The immersion, presence and interaction features of VR provides for art unique opportunities to find new forms of expression. The potential of VR in the artistic context will be revealed more clearly as researches in this area increase. The way art uses VR, how it interprets it, and the change VR will cause in art will expand the perspective for both. It is seen that in most of the researches on the relationship between VR and art, this relationship is considered in a general context. Very few researches has been done on the use of writing for artistic purposes in VR and a limited number of practical studies have been produced. From this point of view, in this article, the relationship between experimental typography and VR art is examined with examples. The most effective use of writing in both a linguistic context and as a visual expression has been within the scope of conceptual art and this has brought new discourses and perspectives to the art. In this regards, the inclusion of VR in the combination of writing and art may provide completely different results in conceptual and intellectual contexts. The intersection of writing, art and VR has a rich potential for different perspectives and new patterns. In this paper, the use of writing as the main narrative element in VR Artworks has been discussed as an experimental typography study. Experimental typography is a practice based on exploration and interpretation, seeking new forms of visual expression apart from traditional patterns. VR Artworks based on experimental typography may reveal various contents that explore the role of language for art as structured images in virtual environment. Within this article, three VR Artworks based on the experimental typography are examined and it has seen that they all presented different visual solutions than the clean, meticulous 3D visualization approach used in most VR applications. In this context, it has been suggested that the use of experimental typography in VR Art can expand the narrative language of VR.

Wearable technologies are being used to monitor performance real time, big data is helping coaches analyze athletes so that they can be improved further and hypobaric chambers that simulate high altitude environment are being used by wrestlers and other combat athletes to train in low oxygen environments to condition their cardiovascular systems. However, while all these technologies focus on making athletes physically better, the psychological component has been missing. It is said that sports are 90% mental and 10% physical, so, suffice to say, there is a lot of scope for improvement as tools to help athletes win the mind game are finally here in the form of virtual reality. Because training is only as good as the sense of immersion it can imparts and the closer a simulation approximates real life conditions, the more an athlete can learn from it. Now, if sports were all about having the greatest endurance and strength, then the results would always be predictable, which would frankly be quite boring No, it's the skills with which sportsmen and women exhibit while in the heat of the moment, as they gracefully intercept and react to their opponents that makes sports truly exciting, and this is where VR can help them. Imagine a baseball player who can practice his swings as many times he wants against a virtual representation of his opponent. Not only can he analyze the intricacies of his throw, but the simulation can be setup to let the batter practice at his or her own level. The batter can also review his performance later. Likewise, boxers can practice speed drills, shadow box and train their reflexes in VR far better than they could ever do in real life. Since a virtual situation is completely within our control, it can be tailor made to recreate any scenario. This boxer who tried out Thrill of the Fight was certainly optimistic about how VR could be used to train athletes in the immediate future. Race car drivers will find an immediate interest in VR as many games such as Project Cars are extremely immersive and do not require a very expensive setup to get going. Being able to race as if it were real without burning through gallons of fuel and no risk of grievous injury is something a driver will surely appreciate.

This paper examines the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for architectural applications. There has been a great deal of anticipation for its implications for architecture since Ivan Sutherland's first VR system in the 60's. The term VR was formalized and became popular in the main stream in the late 80's and became an industry by the late 90's. Although it has found good applications in Medicine, Flight Simulation, and Video Game Industry, its effect on architecture remains imperceptible. In the work that we review, we found that the success of VR in architecture has primarily been in the passive and exploratory applications. We also note that at the present time, the cost of VR systems is directly proportionate to the level of photorealism and immersion. We contend that photorealistic visualization and total immersion are not absolute prerequisites for making most design decisions. Hence, through this paper we bring to light the inherent promise of VR technology and the potential impact it could have with its current limitations, on the way we conventionally think and design our built environment pushing it beyond space and time constraints.

The apotheosis of the globe, global and globalized seems to grow ungainly with authoritative grandeur at our every breath. With continuous adjustments forced upon this model, under constant tension favored by industrialization, consumerism, political conflicts and anthropocene, the most basic human rights are abused and ignored time and time again, all over the world. Is there an alternative to the global view of the world? The paper aims to demonstrate that opposed to the globe as object, symbol and iconography that mediates globalization, and places our view outside earth, the diverse typologies of immersive media such as virtual reality and 360° video projects, fulldome films designed for dome theatres, followed by online interactive 360° webdocumentaries or virtual tours, function as cultural interfaces for the spherical worldview. The research sets out to consider this spherical representation of human rights which re-position its ‘inhabitants’ to perceive the world from within (Ingold) and integrates the multiplicity and diversity of our contemporary societies and cultural representations, sustaining the human rights of the indigenous, marginal and minority. This will be done specifically in relation to Astra Film Festival’s new media program entitled The Future is Now implemented and curated by Adela M. in 2016 and 2017 in Sibiu city, Romania, through case studies that use the virtual reality and 360° video technology. While the sphere, spherical, spheropoiese is presented as the counterdiscourse of the globe, global and globalized, the paper introduces their detailed historical evolution, building a tension that unfolds through the mythologem of the orb and its unconventional dialectical interplay between engagement as a sphere and detachment as a globe, viewpoints that mutually function as paradoxical concurrent perspectives.

Keywords: spherical worldview; to diverge; decolonize conquest consciousness; world-system; globalization; mythologem; Unus Non Sufficit Orbis;

Virtual Reality technologies can play essential role for the success of tourism inventiveness. Hence, this application entitled VR Bukit Puteri is designed and developed as a medium to promote and attract tourists to visit this natural cultural heritage place in Terengganu. This application is particularly very useful for the user to get information or learn interactively about history and artifacts of Bukit Puteri. The interaction design lifecycle model had been implemented in the development of this application. In addition, the gaze interaction technique had been successfully used to add more interactivity and user-friendliness to this application. The framework, interface design, testing and expert evaluation may also serve as guidelines in developing similar VR application in another domain. The author would consider gamification elements, engaging activities, 360’ VR experiences to be proposed to enhance VR applications for the future. These engagement elements can be a great ...

Within education, concepts such as distance learning, and open universities, are now becoming more widely used for teaching and learning. However, due to the nature of the subject domain, the teaching of Science, Technology, and Engineering are still relatively behind when using new technological approaches (particularly for online distance learning). The reason for this discrepancy lies in the fact that these fields often require laboratory exercises to provide effective skill acquisition and hands-on experience. Often it is difficult to make these laboratories accessible for online access. Either the real lab needs to be enabled for remote access or it needs to be replicated as a fully software-based virtual lab. We argue for the latter concept since it offers some advantages over remotely controlled real labs, which will be elaborated further in this paper. We are now seeing new emerging technologies that can overcome some of the potential difficulties in this area. These include: computer graphics, augmented reality, computational dynamics, and virtual worlds. This paper summarizes the state of the art in virtual laboratories and virtual worlds in the fields of science, technology, and engineering. The main research activity in these fields is discussed but special emphasis is put on the field of robotics due to the maturity of this area within the virtual-education community. This is not a coincidence; starting from its widely multidisciplinary character, robotics is a perfect example where all the other fields of engineering and physics can contribute. Thus, the use of virtual labs for other scientific and non-robotic engineering uses can be seen to share many of the same learning processes. This can include supporting the introduction of new concepts as part of learning about science and technology, and introducing more general engineering knowledge, through to supporting more constructive (and collaborative) education and training activities in a more complex engineering topic such as robotics. The objective of this paper is to outline this problem space in more detail and to create a valuable source of information that can help to define the starting position for future research.

In the recent decades, artists and researchers have shown an increased interest in applying new technologies to traditional arts in Japan, especially in the field of calligraphy art, painting, and the Zen culture. In one hand, modern calligraphers begin to use different media to create ‘digital calligraphy’ and collaborate with programmers to produce new experiences. In the other hand, media artists have been utilising audio-visual media to reinterpret the traditional aesthetics through emerging technologies, such as employing virtual reality technology to write the ‘spatial calligraphy’.

Besides, concerning the menace of losing traditional skills, researchers have developed the motion-copying system which can record the calligrapher’s movement precisely and reproduce faithfully as the original piece. They intend to use this technology to educate the young generation. However, following the rapid advance of technology and the permeation of digital media, there are several issues arose, such as : How can we evaluate ‘digital calligraphy’ and in which aesthetic standard? Without the mediacy of real brush and ink, can we express ourselves more directly by using fingers to write calligraphy on screens? How will the motion-copying system influence the relationships between masters, teachers, and students?

By delving into threes dimensions—aesthetics, technology, and social institution, this thesis points out the lurking jeopardy of substituting new technology for traditional pedagogy. Meanwhile, it also analyses the irreplaceable core of traditional aesthetics and the dilemma of interactive media artworks to show how the emerging technologies transform the traditional culture value from the analog to the digital, and suggest the new interpretation of ‘aura’ to retain in the postmodern age of ubiquitous media.

Keywords:
Shodō, calligraphy art, Ikebana, Rimpa, Walter Benjamin, Fredric Jameson, Zen, Enso, interactive art, extended mind, handwriting, motion-copying technology, virtual reality.

Supervisor/s: Prof. Dr. Oliver Grau & Prof. Dr. Naoko Tosa

"Our visual relationships with architectural propositions are highly mediated by representations, and the image-technologies used to construct them. The context in which these propositions are explored and tested is conceptually framed by image-technologies, such as computer-based design and visualisation software. However, much of the knowledge that underpins how architecture is represented is derived directly from concepts and techniques indebted to Renaissance pictorial art. For example, linear perspective’s influence upon how architectural space is constructed in computer-based environments today remains relatively unchallenged, whilst other creative disciplines apply alternative non-perspectival means of representing space. Further, the re–emerging interest in surface effects throughout the 1990s has—in no small part—materialised as a direct result of increasingly powerful computer processors in combination with the seamless transfer of information between the computer–based design and visualisation software that is used to conceive complex geometrical forms, and the fabrication technologies applied to manufacture these complex geometries as built architectural forms. These fabrication technologies have allowed for the relatively cheap application of images onto almost any material and surface of a built form, with little to no consideration of the broader History of Visuality upon which these image–technologies are ultimately indebted.

In order to reveal potential insights concerning how emerging image–technologies might affect the conception and experience of spatial effects in Architecture, it is necessary to better understand how space was represented and incorporated within pictures through the lens of older relations between space and image in the History of Western Art. This thesis presents a history of concepts and techniques that outline how viewers have engaged with pictures when displayed in space, how space was represented within the image’s composition (space in images) and, finally, how the space in which the image was displayed itself was subsumed within the composition of the image (space within images). This thesis makes a significant and original contribution to the discipline of Architecture by opening up issues of contemporary image-technology, exploring their impact on the tripartite relationship between images in space and space in/within images. This thesis both historicises and speculates on the changing relationship between pictures and viewers in Western Visual Culture; in terms of the dynamic interchange between static and moving images, and stationary and moving viewers. That is to say, it is both reflective and projective in attempting to provide a lens through which to suggest relevant techniques that could be applied in the conceptual and technical application of pictures on the interior and exterior surfaces of architecture today.

Methodologically, this thesis primarily uses historical resources in order to instrumentally explore contemporary problems in Visual Culture and Architecture in parallel to the construction of a series of design–based research demonstrations and analytical diagrams constructed by the author. Significantly, the design–based research demonstrations and analytical diagrams aim to make explicit the conceptual and technical implications of the space–image relation in Architecture that are rarely manifest in a clear, illustrative form by authorities in the field. These analytical diagrams provide a clear visual explanation of complex space–image concepts that reveal original insights into what is at stake when old concepts in Western Art are brought to bear on new problems in Architecture today. The combination of scholarly research, diagrammatic analysis and design–based research demonstration provides a more holistic and productive method through which to discuss, assess and reveal new knowledge concerning the space–image relation. Importantly, this dissertation does not set out to provide an authoritative account of how viewers have historically engaged with images in Art and Architecture, rather it aims to seek out critical moments of transition in the History of Visuality, and reflect upon them through designerly activity.

This thesis discusses four core issues through a series of case studies and design–based research demonstrations. Firstly, this thesis outlines concepts and techniques used in pictorial composition in the late medieval period. This discussion provides a series of original organisational concepts and generative techniques through which to include co-existent viewpoints within one picture: the capacity of a pictorial composition, such as Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Sala della Pace mural (1338–40), to include a series of different viewpoints that address specific scenes within the image’s overall composition. Secondly, this thesis outlines and assesses key methods of prescribing viewpoint through the application of perspective-based compositional structures in a series of case-study paintings exemplary of Renaissance pictorialism. Thirdly, this thesis outlines and assesses centralised viewpoint and immersive pictorial compositions in Art and Western Visual Culture through the formation of a genealogical connection between the nineteenth-century panorama, Apple’s Quicktime Virtual Reality panorama and Image-Objects in the 1980s, and Jeffrey Shaw’s ‘mixed-reality’ installations of the 1990s. Finally, this thesis outlines and assesses how viewpoint is affected by pictorial compositions that do not represent space, that is, compositions that are non-representational."