DOCSLIB.ORG

Aesthetics of Immersion in Interactive Immersive Installation : Phenomenological Case Study

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Aesthetics of Immersion in Interactive Immersive Installation : Phenomenological Case Study Aesthetics of Immersion in Interactive Immersive Installation : Phenomenological Case Study Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo Texas A&M University College Station, USA [email protected] Abstract In a movement parallel to Computer Science research, This paper examines the aesthetics of immersive experience in many Interactive Artists have also explored immersion Light Strings, an interactive immersive environment. One of within VR environments in collaboration with computer prominent aspects of Interactive Art is the notion of immersion. scientists in many times. Their general approach to The concept of immersion is generally defined as a viewer immersion is somewhat different from those of scientists. “forgetting” the real world outside of the virtual environment and Artists have explored full-body, sensory immersion by a sense of being in a make-believe world generated by through their artistic creations. [4-6] Their approaches computational hardware and software. As an interactive artist and countered the disembodying tendency of virtual reality researcher, I conceive of immersion as any experience where discourses and their artistic pursuit was centred on creating integrated bodily, conscious, and pre-conscious states thoroughly immersive experiences using new technology (new intertwine with the world. Moreover immersion is where mind, hardware or complex systems). Rather than quantifying the body and environment interweave and communicate with each participants’ immersive experience, their focus was on other inside of technically-mediated, spatially enclosed, and creating new immersive experiences. sensuously-interactive computational environments. Light Strings As an artist, I create interactive immersive installations was created based on my previous art practice and research into exploring the idea of embodiment and materiality. My art- immersion as a way to study participants’ experiences with the ist skills and interests have led me to experimenting with artwork. In the participant study of Light Strings, participants soft materials and light to create immersive environments. were encouraged to describe the felt experiences of the From over 15 years of experience with digital technology installation through phenomenologically oriented research in Interactive Art, I believe that technology can help us to methods. As a result, an experiential model of the participants’ experience nostalgia and relive our memories, reawaken experiences was developed by exploring bodily, spatial, and habituated senses and provide opportunities to perceive contextual consciousness with temporal considerations. new things in a creative way. In this study, I created an interactive immersive installation, Light Strings and con- Keywords ducted participant study to examine how participants expe- rience immersion, how immersion is constructed in my Immersive installation, aesthetics of immersion, immersive Con- installation and what the main qualities are of the environ- sciousness, audio-visual, case study ment. This paper analyzes aesthetics of immersive experi- ence collected from a case study. Participants were encour- aged to describe their felt experiences through phenomeno- Introduction logically-oriented research methods. This allowed me to One prominent aspect of Interactive Art is a notion of gather various data on participant experience. immersion. Immersion has been historically explored mostly by literary and film theorists and more recently, by Virtual Reality (VR) scientists and artists. It is generally Background defined as a viewer “forgetting” the real world outside of the virtual environment and by a sense of being in a Understanding Immersion simulated world generated by computational hardware and The sense of immersion has been explored for a long time software. Most research into immersive experience has but there is no set or universally agreed upon definition for been conducted from a scientific perspective. The scientific this term because all approaches converge on the word research tradition typically standardizes or objectifies immersion from different knowledge areas. The term is results and doesn’t focus on the meanings and qualities of widely used for describing immersive virtual reali- experience. Similar to other scientific studies, immersion ty, installation art and video games, but no one meaning researchers have largely used quantitative/empirical dominates. Its meaning remains vague, but common to methods, such as measuring physiological data and each meaning is the connotation of being absorbed, en- conducting surveys after the participants’ experience. [1-3] gaged and embraced. Different disciplines use these differ- ent definitions. This means that immersion has multiple, immersion is being explored in art projects that encourage flexible qualities that can be applied in different situations. the active involvement of the participant and evoke senses and/or fully engage with attention. Interactive artists often Contemporary Views try to use limited, inexpensive technology but in creative ways to examine the sense of immersion because it is hard for them to use very expensive equipment and because the Immersion in New Media sense of immersion does not require photo-realistic or Since the 1990s, more in-depth research on immersion has technologically complex multi-sensory environments. been conducted in the Arts and Humanities. The result is Immersion can be created from perceptual cues. [12] two streams of scholars and artists. One stream explores various immersive experiences in different realms: Immersion in Physical Environment videogames, narrative, and human experience. The other stream focuses on building immersive experience within Immersive spaces create subliminal awe [13], helping immersive VR spaces. the viewer/participant become aware of inherent or internal Salen & Zimmerman call immersion “double body senses. Physically immersive environments expand consciousness,” that the game player is fully aware of the the boundary of our vision and create imagination evoking character as an artificial construct. They argue that this immersive feelings from materials that affect with makes character-based game play a rich and multi-layered perceptions of dimension. Physical installations do not experience. [7] For Bolter and Gromala, a participant’s include normal architectural rooms or spaces where we live awareness oscillates between feeling immersed and being in the everyday life. Even though we are physically aware of an immersive environment. However participants surrounded by a room or nature and may be engaged to most of the time are still aware of the real environment and something in the space, it is hard to call the phenomenon get immersed from the interplay between real media and immersion. When we are habituated to the space, we are virtual contents. [8] rarely aware of our connections to the environment and the Many other researchers have focused on the desire to reciprocal relationships within the space. In my study of use technology as the defining factors in immersion; they immersion, it is critical to recognize that immersive describe the term “immersion” as immersion into presence, consciousness is constructed through embodied experience a state of being engaged; in this way presence is a psycho- in the relationships among body, mind and the world. logically emergent property of an immersive system. Im- mersion describes a condition; presence describes an asso- ciated state of consciousness. [9] Carol Manetta and Rich- Methodology ard Blade defined immersion as an observer’s emotional reaction to being part of a virtual world. [10] They consid- Methodological Background er immersion as mental process created during the use of Art has been acknowledged as research among practition- immersive VR systems that include HMDs and other ers, theorists, and educators. [14] In contrast to academic equipment. Immersion can be stimulating process, but in and scientific research emphasizing the generalizability most cases immersion “absorbs and provokes a process, a and repeatability of knowledge, art research expresses a change, and a passage from one mental state to another”. form of experience-based knowledge [15] and explores [11] subjective qualities of experience. Artists identify re- searchable problems discovered in practice, and respond or Immersion in Interactive Art solve them through professional practice. Therefore, artists Immersion is in part a spatial experience, in the sense of know their works and the questions around the works bet- enveloping the participant in a discrete and panoramic ter than any other researchers. An artist is a researcher who space. Moreover, it is also a temporal experience when has multifaceted roles: material experimenter, space de- combined with computational components. It creates an signer, fabricator, critic, documenter and audience. [16] In intimate connection as “a constitutive element of other words, it is ideal that artists take a lead role in the reflection, self-discovery, and the experience of art and research of their works, rather than being separated from nature”. [11] Immersion is considered paradoxically as the research process. In that respect, artists’ research activi- distance, as absorption, and as space and time blur in the ties seem to be appropriate for Baumgarten’s classical def- immersive environment. The pioneering immersive artist inition of the aesthetic domain. Davies explored the concept of immersion using the metaphor of scuba diving
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Preserving New Media Art: Re-Presenting Experience
    Preserving New Media Art: Re-presenting Experience Jean Bridge Sarah Pruyn Visual Arts & Interactive Arts and Science, Theatre Studies, University of Guelph, Brock University Guelph, Canada St. Catharines, Canada [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT Keywords There has been considerable effort over the past 10 years to define methods for preservation, documentation and archive of new Art, performance art, relational art, interactive art, new media, art media artworks that are characterized variously as ephemeral, preservation, archive, art documentation, videogame, simulation, performative, immersive, participatory, relational, unstable or representation, experience, interaction, aliveness, virtual, technically obsolete. Much new media cultural heritage, authorship, instrumentality consisting of diverse and hybrid art forms such as installation, performance, intervention, activities and events, are accessible to 1. INTRODUCTION us as information, visual records and other relatively static This investigation has evolved from our interest in finding documents designed to meet the needs of collecting institutions documentation of artwork by artists who produce technologically and archives rather than those of artists, students and researchers mediated installations, performances, interventions, activities and who want a more affectively vital way of experiencing the artist’s events - the nature of which may be variously limited in time or creative intentions. It is therefore imperative to evolve existing duration, performance based,
    [Show full text]
  • How Artists Can Develop Their Artwork, Its Market and Deliver Their Creative Content for Virtual Reality Environments?
    http://dx.doi.org/10.14236/ewic/EVA2019.54 How Artists Can Develop Their Artwork, Its Market and Deliver Their Creative Content for Virtual Reality Environments? Maureen Kendal Mehmet Mulla Elaine Thomazi-Freitas Ravensbourne University Dreamstudio.io London Metropolitan University London, UK London, UK London, UK [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] This research investigates how artists, from traditional fine art and applied art backgrounds, can create innovative immersive and virtual art and build upon their tangible skills, through a digital pipeline and tools? Findings indicated opportunities to co-create partnerships, develop transferable design skills; and exhibitions which enable new markets and audiences. Virtual Reality. Immersive technologies. TiltBrush. Visual effects. Spatial audio. 1. INTRODUCTION. experience of VR technology for artists may find a new home in a virtual immersive setting. The project aimed to introduce a variety of eXtended Reality (XR) experiences to PingHub The project aims were to: network of artists and creatives, to prepare the way for an immersive platform for use by artists, gallery 1. Introduce immersive design skills to owners, globally dispersed, to enable greater these fine art artists. interconnectivity for their audiences, patrons and 2. Enable artists to use these tools artists. independently or in collaborative multi-disciplinary partnerships with The PingHub curatorial team led by Peng Seng VR specialists. Ong, investigated immersive technologies, 3. Investigate how the transfer of providers, costs and availability; the chosen artists’ creative content to a VR provider offered hands-on tasters of Virtual Reality platform could promote their work (VR) tools, global partners and an understanding of across PingHub galleries in other usability and psychological measures.
    [Show full text]
  • Interaction, Participation and Networking Art Florian Weil Student at University of Art in Linz Hauptplatz 8 4010 Linz, Austria [email protected]
    Interaction, Participation and Networking Art Florian Weil Student at University of Art in Linz Hauptplatz 8 4010 Linz, Austria [email protected] Interactions were often used as a dialogue model, for example the “Telematic Dreaming” project. In this installation the viewer is no ABSTRACT longer solely a recipient, but simultaneously an agent, too. This paper is a summary of the essay “Interaction, Participation, Networking Art and telecommunication” from Inke Arns. We At the late 1980s telematic and telepresence began to gain explore how the spectator is involved into the artwork and how importance for interactive media art. Telepresence provided a new the participation of art changed in the last 50-60 years. scope for the artist and allowed the viewer parallel experiences in Furthermore, this paper point out the evolution of art and which three different spaces at once: role participation plays in the art context • The real space in which the viewer’s body is physically located Keywords Art Network Internet mass-media participation telematic • Per tele-perception in the virtual, simulated visual space collaboration Openness NetArt satellite communication • Per tele-action at the physical location of the “data- work” 1. INTRODUCTION In this context of telematic art Kit Galloway and Sherrie Duchamp said that artwork is made entirely by those who look at Rabinowitz created a groundbreaking work, which is called “Hole it or read it. The artist, who made it, survives by their accolades or in Space”. In this installation the viewer from Los Angeles were even their condemnation. These points motivated the artist of the able to talk to the viewer from the other side in New York via a 20th Centaury to use and evolve the concepts of interaction, satellite video connection.
    [Show full text]
  • Video Installation in Public Space
    Center for Open Access in Science ▪ https://www.centerprode.com/ojsa.html Open Journal for Studies in Arts, 2018, 1(1), 29-42. ISSN (Online) 2620-0635 ▪ https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsa.0101.03029d _________________________________________________________________________ Video Installation in Public Space Lili Atila Dzhagarova South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Blagoevgrad Theater and Cinema Art Received 31 May 2018 ▪ Revised 27 June 2018 ▪ Accepted 29 July 2018 Abstract The present study is dedicated to the research of video installations placed in the public space, such as exhibition halls, streets and theatrical spaces. The theme “Video installations in the public space” is the understanding of the essence of video and space and its aspects through the production of various spatial solutions and practical imaging solutions in the field of video art. The subject of the study is essence of the problem. In the case of this study the object is the video installations, and the subject is the process of their creation, and the concept of environment. The whole range of phenomena studied is related to the works of video art, their development and expression of opportunities and the idea of environment is an aspect of exploring the space in which they are presented. Keywords: installations, video, public space, phenomenon, movement. 1. Introduction When we think of artists, we think of paint on canvas, or clay masterpieces, or beautiful, timeless drawings, but what do you think when you hear digital artists? The acceptance of digital art into the mainstream art community is a controversy that is slowly becoming history. The controversy is essentially what many people believe in that art is created by the computer, and not by the artist.
    [Show full text]
  • Ubiquitous Interactive Art Displays: Are They Wanted, Are They Intuitive?
    Ubiquitous Interactive Art Displays: Are they Wanted, are they Intuitive? Gary Burrows The Information Science Discussion Paper Series Number 2006/02 January 2006 ISSN 1172-6024 University of Otago Department of Information Science The Department of Information Science is one of six departments that make up the School of Business at the University of Otago. The department offers courses of study leading to a major in Information Science within the BCom, BA and BSc degrees. In addition to undergraduate teaching, the department is also strongly involved in post- graduate research programmes leading to MCom, MA, MSc and PhD degrees. Re- search projects in spatial information processing, connectionist-based information sys- tems, software engineering and software development, information engineering and database, software metrics, distributed information systems, multimedia information systems and information systems security are particularly well supported. The views expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of the department as a whole. The accuracy of the information presented in this paper is the sole responsibil- ity of the authors. Copyright Copyright remains with the authors. Permission to copy for research or teaching pur- poses is granted on the condition that the authors and the Series are given due ac- knowledgment. Reproduction in any form for purposes other than research or teach- ing is forbidden unless prior written permission has been obtained from the authors. Correspondence This paper represents work to date and may not necessarily form the basis for the au- thors’ final conclusions relating to this topic. It is likely, however, that the paper will ap- pear in some form in a journal or in conference proceedings in the near future.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.Virtual Art -The Aura of the Digital Fortunately, It Is Unknown
    Interin E-ISSN: 1980-5276 [email protected] Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná Brasil Schuricht, Susanne Virtual Art -the Aura of the Digital Fortunately, it is unknown where the journey will end. Dr. Oliver Grau, based in Berlin, Germany, interviewed by Susanne Schurich Interin, vol. 1, núm. 1, 2006 Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná Curitiba, Brasil Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=504450754010 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Virtual Art - the Aura of the Digital Fortunately, it is unknown where the journey will end Dr. Oliver Grau, based in Berlin, Germany, interviewed by Susanne Schuricht Dr. Oliver Grau is a media art historian researching and lecturing at the Art History department at Humboldt University, Berlin. He studied art history, economics, archaeology and Italian literature in Hamburg, London and Siena. He has also done field research in the USA and Japan. Since 1988 he has been head of the German Science Foundation’s project on History of the Arts and Media Theory of Virtual Reality, and has led the "immersive art" project since 2001. Besides this, he and his team are developing a database for virtual art which will provide an overview of interactive installations over recent decades. He has published widely in Europe, the USA and Japan. His research focuses on the history of illusion and immersion in media and art, the history of the idea and culture of telepresence and telecommunication, genetic art and artificial intelligence.
    [Show full text]
  • A N N E M a R C H A
    www.annemarchand.com A N N E M A R C H A N D Washington, DC Selected Solo Exhibitions 2022 International Museum of Art & Science (IMAS), McAllen, TX, “Anne Marchand” (forthcoming) 2021 Whittemore House, Woman’s National Democratic Club Museum & Gallery, Washington, DC, “Tellus/Caelus: Seeing Earth and Sky, Recent Work by Anne Marchand”, (Curator, Claudia Rousseau) Cross Contemporary Partners, NY “Tellus/Caelus: Seeing Earth and Sky”, (3D Virtual Online Exhibition) 2020 Frostburg State University, MD, “Anne Marchand Recent Abstractions” (Covid interrupt) 2019 Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, “Abstractions: Anne Marchand” Hardin Center for Cultural Arts, Gadsden, AL, “Abstractions by Anne Marchand” Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA, “Abstractions: Anne Marchand” Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA, “Recent Abstractions by Anne Marchand”, (Traveling Exhibition) 2014 Green Chalk Contemporary, Monterey, CA, “Vision of Myth” 2013 Emerge Fine Art, Cary, NC, “Illumination” Evolve Urban Arts Project, Washington, DC, “Anne Marchand at Evolve” 2012 ArtExpo, Pier 92, New York, NY 2011 Montgomery College, Silver Spring, MD, “Of Shining Worlds”, (Curator, Claudia Rousseau) 2010 Vornado/Charles E. Smith, Arlington, VA, “Luminous” 2006 Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC, “Ellipsis” Selected Group Exhibitions 2021 Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC, “Herstory” Latela Curatorial x Artsy, Washington, DC, “Turning Blue, Part DEUX” (Virtual Exhibition) Cross Contemporary Partners, Saugerties, NY, “The Universe Makers”, (3D Virtual Exhibition) 2020 Cross
    [Show full text]
  • "How Does Gamified Interaction Allow Participants to Co-Create Digital Artworks?"
    Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree European Master of Excellence Media Arts Cultures "HOW DOES GAMIFIED INTERACTION ALLOW PARTICIPANTS TO CO-CREATE DIGITAL ARTWORKS?" Qualitative analysis: comparative method, within-case method of analysis and embedded multiple-case study Master Thesis Handed in to Department of Communication and Psychology Aalborg University Head of Department Univ.-Prof. Dr. Mikael Vetner and the Media Arts Cultures Consortium Supervisor: Palle Dahlstedt (Ph.D., MFA, MA) By: Dominique Vinckenbosch (BA, MA) August 12, 2019 ! ii! ABSTRACT Topic: Game design elements (gamification affordances) applied to interaction for co-creation in art. Author: Dominique Vinckenbosch Course/Year: Media Arts Cultures, 2017-2019 4th Semester Placement: Aalborg University, Denmark Pages: 130 Content: So far gamification and interaction in art have been studied separately. However, the research question of this study "How does Gamified Interaction allow participants to co-create digital artworks?" covers three disciplines, respectively games, human computer interaction and interactive art and demonstrate connections premises between the three. Therefore, this study aims to bridge these three disciplines by filling the gap in the current research about the application of game design elements (gamification affordances) to interaction for co-creation in art. In order to do so, the study conducts an in-depth cross-case and within-case qualitative analysis of four digital artworks, respectively The Beast, Cow Clicker, Tweetris and BURP in regards to two previously elaborated hypotheses, which goals are to provide evidence of a causal relationship (H1) and to eliminate a causal factor as a necessary condition (H2). The results demonstrate that Gamified Interaction enables co-creation in the form of authorial and social collaboration, and that it does not necessary have to be designed according to the participants.
    [Show full text]
  • Theorising the Practice of Expressing a Fictional World Across Distinct Media and Environments
    Transmedia Practice: Theorising the Practice of Expressing a Fictional World across Distinct Media and Environments by Christy Dena A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Letters, Art and Media Department of Media and Communications Digital Cultures Program University of Sydney Australia Supervisor: Professor Gerard Goggin Associate Supervisor: Dr. Chris Chesher Associate Supervisor: Dr. Anne Dunn 2009 Let’s study, with objectivity and curiosity, the mutation phenomenon of forms and values in the current world. Let’s be conscious of the fact that although tomorrow’s world does not have any chance to become more fair than any other, it owns a chance that is linked to the destiny of the current art [...] that of embodying, in their works some forms of new beauty, which will be able to arise only from the meet of all the techniques. (Francastel 1956, 274) Translation by Regina Célia Pinto, emailed to the empyre mailing list, Jan 2, 2004. Reprinted with permission. To the memory of my dear, dear, mum, Hilary. Thank you, for never denying yourself the right to Be. ~ Transmedia Practice ~ Abstract In the past few years there have been a number of theories emerge in media, film, television, narrative and game studies that detail the rise of what has been variously described as transmedia, cross-media and distributed phenomena. Fundamentally, the phenomenon involves the employment of multiple media platforms for expressing a fictional world. To date, theorists have focused on this phenomenon in mass entertainment, independent arts or gaming; and so, consequently the global, transartistic and transhistorical nature of the phenomenon has remained somewhat unrecognised.
    [Show full text]
  • I Want to See How You See. Curatorial Practices of Exhibiting Virtual Reality 2018
    Repositorium für die Medienwissenschaft Ina Neddermeyer I Want to See How You See. Curatorial Practices of Exhibiting Virtual Reality 2018 https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/12210 Veröffentlichungsversion / published version Sammelbandbeitrag / collection article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Neddermeyer, Ina: I Want to See How You See. Curatorial Practices of Exhibiting Virtual Reality. In: Luisa Feiersinger, Kathrin Friedrich, Moritz Queisner (Hg.): Image – Action – Space: Situating the Screen in Visual Practice. Berlin: de Gruyter 2018, S. 203–214. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/12210. Erstmalig hier erschienen / Initial publication here: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110464979-016 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Creative Commons - This document is made available under a creative commons - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 Attribution - Non Commercial - No Derivatives 4.0 License. For Lizenz zur Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu dieser Lizenz more information see: finden Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 Ina Neddermeyer I Want to See How You See Curatorial Practices of Exhibiting Virtual Reality Displaying time-based media art poses major challenges for the process of seeing. Despite their diversity all works in the presentation and reception in exhibitions. Sound over- the following essay can be characterized as VR-HMD thus lays, distraction effects or the missing reset button, which virtual realities consisting of CG Imagery generated in real would make it possible to start an artwork as soon as visitors time and displayed on HMDs. enter the room are everyday problems in curatorial practice.
    [Show full text]
  • From Multimedia to Software Art Installations
    Collaborative and Transdisciplinary practices in Cyberart: from Multimedia to Software Art installations Diana Domingues Eliseo Reategui NTAV Lab – Universidade de Caxias do Sul/CNPQ Mestrado em Comunicação e Linguagens – Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná Brazil How to synthesize Leonardo? The efficiency of collaborative practices related to complex systems in Cyberart dissolves the old rupture and the well-known historical divergences between artists and scientists. The main point of convergence is when all disciplines investigate the same issues, all sciences become one unique science. Interactivity, immersion, autonomy and mobile connections in Cyberart require collaborative practices related to Science of Complexity and its emergent proprieties. Speculative software are written to respond for artistic projects and they place art in the three recent realms of “engineering art”, “engineering culture” and “engineering nature”1. These investigation fields respond to the high level of Cyberart’s philosophical, technical, biological, social, ethical and emotional implications of scientific discoveries. A variety of disciplines related to the use of computers and networks in genetics, engineering, biotechnology, cognitive sciences, communication, anthropology, computer science, and other areas require sometimes a scripted software when applied in art practices. Writing software is not new in art practices, it has been done since the beginning of computer art, mainly in the development of formalistic aesthetics. However, artists embrace nowadays the design of adequate software by taking algorithmic information content for searching “rules” to be included in the code. Art works in cyberspace search for forms of communication close to the expansion of life in the post-human culture. The focus is the human factor of technologies or the humanization of technologies in the cross- boundaries with creativity and changes in daily life2.
    [Show full text]
  • Immersive Interactive Virtual Reality in the Museum
    Immersive Interactive Virtual Reality in the Museum Maria Roussou Foundation of the Hellenic World 254 Pireos St. Athens 17778 Greece +30-1-4835300, +30-1-4834634, [email protected], http://www.fhw.gr/ Abstract. The use of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technology is a relatively recent trend enjoyed almost exclusively by the academic, military, and industrial research and development communities. However, as VR technologies mature, research is expanding from the military and scientific visualisation realm into more multidisciplinary areas, such as education, art, culture, and the humanities. As representative institutions involved in the research and presentation of these fields, museums, cultural centres, and entertainment venues may be in a better position to make use of advanced virtual reality technologies in order to investigate their educational potential while effectively shaping how they deliver public education and recreation. This paper will discuss the issues involved in using state-of-the-art interactive virtual environments in cultural public spaces by presenting the virtual environments developed for learners of all ages at the Foundation of the Hellenic World (FHW), a cultural heritage institution of informal education located in Athens. Virtual Reality in the Museum The development of new interactive important drawbacks for the use of VR in technologies has inevitably impacted the more public spaces, making it difficult to incorporate traditional sciences and arts. This is more in dwindling museum or school budgets. In evident in the case of novel interactive spite of these concerns and objections technologies that fascinate the broad public, as regarding the appropriateness and educational has always been the case with virtual reality.
    [Show full text]