Virtual Reality Exhibited: Interfacing Art, Games and Everyday Life

Virtual reality is a technique of interfacing which connects diverse bodies, objects and spaces, thereby mediating between different art forms and modes of experience. This feature also calls for a methodological interfacing of different disciplinary perspectives. The contributors to this volume examine how VR is employed in contemporary art with regard to its technical potential, its aesthetic qualities, and the imaginations it evokes. They highlight the use of VR as a ›world within a world,‹ ranging from encapsulated artificial environments to transitions into familiar lifeworlds. By bringing together theoretical perspectives from art history, media and game studies, this volume provides crucial analysis of selected artworks and expands the critical engagement with a contemporary art form and media practice.

Manischa Partowi is a researcher interested in affective strategies in contemporary art. In her PhD project, she investigates the aesthetic constellation of virtual reality-based art by focusing on the phenomena of intimacy and violence. Trained in art history, philosophy and cultural studies, she is affiliated with the Collaborative Research Center 1567 »Virtual Lifeworlds« at Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

Annette Urban (Prof. Dr.) lehrt und forscht am Kunstgeschichtlichen Institut der Ruhr-Universität Bochum im Bereich der Kunstgeschichte der Moderne und Gegenwart mit dem Schwerpunkt neue Medien.

Manuel van der Veen (Dr.) ist Kunstwissenschaftler und wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am SFB »Virtuelle Lebenswelten« an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Zu seinen Forschungsschwerpunkten zählen die Kunstgeschichte der Augmented Reality, raum- und technikphilosophische Untersuchungen digitaler Gegenwartskunst, Schnittstellen zwischen neuen Medien und Malerei wie auch die Theorie und Praxis dreidimensionaler Bildträger.