Virtual Corporeality and Shared Creativity
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College of Arts Coimbra University Virtual Corporeality and Shared Creativity Embodying Avatars in the Metaverse Catarina Antonieta Martins Carneiro de Sousa Supervisors: Doctor Manuel Portela Doctor Elif Ayiter PhD thesis in Contemporary Art presented to the College of Arts at the University of Coimbra September 2016 ii Abstract The aim of this study is to understand how a shared creative process of construction of virtual corporeality in collaborative virtual environments becomes an aesthetic experience. The research is divided into two main but correlated themes: virtual corporeality and shared creativity. It is my purpose to find the relationship between the constitution of a virtual corporeality and the new processes of creative sharing and creation in collaborative virtual environments. I also aim to relate these two aspects to the new forms of aesthetic experience emerging from these virtual contexts. Meta_Body is the main practical artwork that sustains this investigation, an ongoing project since 2011. This is a participatory art project. Initiated in Second Life and in a tangible art exhibition (All My Independent Women 6th edition, at Vienna), it now continues in the collaborative virtual environment’s creative flux. Meta_Body focuses on two aspects: first, the avatar as expressive body, open to experimentation and potency; second, avatar building as a shared creative process and as aesthetical experience. Through the practice of avatar creation, distribution, embodiment and transformation, I aim to understand the processes of virtual corporeality constitution. I interrogate the role of the body in the virtual environment, its importance in engaging with the world and in self-expression, exploring its metaphorical aspects. The method used to implement this project is a shared creative process, in which multiple subjects come to be authors along different phases of the project. Through the embodiment and transformation of avatars, the artwork’s aesthetical experience becomes itself a creative process. This research is therefore grounded on an art-based and project-based methodology, whose results can be seen not only in this written thesis, but also in the artworks themselves, and their derivatives. I accomplished my intended goals and came to a new understanding of virtual corporeality and its connection to shared creativity and aesthetical experience. I believe this iii work to be an important starting point for new investigations that will arise with the new turn to virtual reality. Keywords: avatar embodiment; collaborative virtual environments; Metaverse; produsage; artistic practice; aesthetic experience. iv Resumo O objetivo desta investigação é compreender como é que um processo criativo partilhado de construção de uma corporeidade virtual em ambientes virtuais colaborativos se pode tornar numa experiência estética. Este estudo está dividido em dois temas principais, mas correlacionados: corporeidade virtual e criatividade partilhada. O meu propósito é encontrar a relação entre a constituição de uma corporeidade virtual e os novos processos de criação e de partilha criativa em ambientes virtuais colaborativos. Também pretendo relacionar estes dois aspectos com as novas formas de experiência estética que emergem destes contextos virtuais. Meta_Body é a principal obra prática que sustenta esta investigação, um projecto desenvolvido desde 2011. Trata-se de um projeto de arte participativa, iniciada no Second Life e numa exposição tangível de arte (All My Independent Women 6ª edição, em Viena), e que agora continua no fluxo criativo dos ambientes virtuais colaborativos. Meta_Body centra-se em dois aspectos: primeiro, o avatar como corpo expressivo, aberto à experimentação e potência; segundo, construção do avatar como um processo criativo partilhado e como uma experiência estética. Através da prática de criação de avatares, da sua distribuição, incorporação e transformação, pretendemos compreender os processos de constituição da corporeidade virtual: questionando o papel do corpo no ambiente virtual, a sua importância na relação com o mundo, na a auto-expressão e na explorar dos seus aspectos metafóricos. O método utilizado para implementar este projecto é um processo criativo partilhado, em que múltiplos sujeitos vêm a ser autores ao longo de diferentes fases do projecto. Através da incorporação e transformação de avatares, a experiência estética da obra de arte torna-se um processo criativo. Este estudo é, portanto, fundamentado numa metodologia baseada na arte e projetual, cujos resultados podem ser comprovados não apenas por esta tese escrita, mas também pelas próprias obras de arte em si e seus derivados. Consegui atingir os objetivos pretendidos chegando a uma nova compreensão da corporeidade virtual e da sua relação com a criatividade v partilhada e com a experiência estética. Acredito que este trabalho seja um importante ponto de partida para novas investigações que surgirão com o novo rumo da realidade virtual. Palavras chave: corporização de avatares; ambientes virtuais colaborativos; Metaverso; produtilização; prática artística; experiência estética. vi Acknowledgements I would like to begin by thanking my supervisors who were tireless in their efforts to help me through this journey. Both of them, Doctor Manuel Portela, and Doctor Elif Ayiter, are truly my role models, in education as well as in art practice. Knowing the importance that supervisors have in the success of one’s research, I feel sincerely fortunate. I thank the University of Coimbra, and the College of Arts for giving me the opportunity, and the support to undertake this study. I would like to extend a special acknowledgement to Doctor António Olaio for his efforts in disseminating the PhD in Contemporary Art students’ artworks, through events like Motel Coimbra, or the participation in the 18th Cerveira’s Biennial. I also acknowledge my work institution, the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu — School of Education, and all its representatives, the presidency of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, the presidency of the School of Education, the Communication and Art Department, and the Scientific Area of Visual Education. I have a very special acknowledgement to Doctor Paula Rodrigues, coordinator of this Area throughout most of my research, who not only gave me all the conditions I needed to follow my work, but also always provided pertinent advice in the most difficult times. I also thank our new coordinator Doctor Ana Luísa Melo, without whose understanding it would have been impossible to finish my research. I would like to thank the Portuguese artist and curator Carla Cruz for her commitment to the All My Independent Women project, which propelled the connection between virtual and tangible artworks. My heartfelt thanks to my father, Domingos Carneiro de Sousa, for his support throughout this study, for believing in me, and giving me strength and courage in my darkest moments; and to my daughter for her patience with all my work when she needed me so, and for brightening vii the days with her mere smile, for making me laugh when I was tired, for the cuddles and tenderness on the narrow curves of both our paths — our embrace did not let us side track. My mother, Sameiro Oliveira Martins aka Meilo Minotaur, and my husband, Luís Eustáquio aka Takio Ra, made the most significant contribution to this research. As one does with one’s families, I thank them for the love, the companionship and the encouragement, but I need to thank them for so much more! Most of this study is about them, and the way we work together. They are not just family, they are co-workers, this study would not exist without them, their work, their creativity, and their generosity… We are the crew of this ship, through storm and lull, we can always count on each other. And we will keep giving worlds to the world! My final acknowledgement is to the produsers, the participants in our artworks, the ones who give meaning to it all, the ones we do it for! viii Table of Contents Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………….…... iii Resumo ……………………………………………………………………………...……….. v Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………. vii Table of contents …………………………………………………………………………... ix List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………….. xiii List of Figures ……………………………………………………………….…………….. xv List of Abbreviations ……………………………...…………………………...………….. xvi Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………….… 1 Part I — Virtual Corporeality ……………………………………………………..….….... 13 1. Virtuality, corporeality and simulation …………………...…………………….…..….. 15 1.1. The virtual ……………………………………….…………………...………........ 15 1.2. Corporeality ………………………………….…………..……………………..… 29 1.3. Simulation ………………………………………………………………..….….... 51 2. Embodiment ………………………………………………………………………..…..... 56 2.1. Embodied mind ………………………………………………..…...…………...… 56 2.1.1. Consciousness …………………………………………………...……..… 56 2.1.2. Perception and Cognition ………………………...………………….…… 57 2.2. Phenomenal body ………………………………………………………………… 61 2.3. Presence and mediation ………………………………………………….……...… 62 ix 2.3.1. Types, levels and factors of presence ……………………….…………..… 66 2.3.2. Immersion and presence ………………………………………………….. 70 2.3.3. New Proposal of Types and Levels of Presence in Mediated Context ………………………………………………………………………..… 73 2.4. Embodiment in Collaborative Virtual Environments ………….……………….…. 77 3. The avatar as expressive body ……………………………………………………..……. 83 3.1. The metaphoric body of the avatar ………………………….…………..……….. 83 3.2. Avatar affordances ………………………………………………………….…..… 85