International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, May 1, 2008
Abstract As 3D Online Virtual Worlds begin to assume a sense of presence in real terms, there is ... more Abstract As 3D Online Virtual Worlds begin to assume a sense of presence in real terms, there is a growing interest amongst the wider international artistic community in Second Life (SL) as a platform to develop creative practice. A number of artists and designers have continued, ...
Abstract A 2013 UK study forecasting how our identities will change in the following decade noted... more Abstract A 2013 UK study forecasting how our identities will change in the following decade noted that until now, a kind of inner narrative has provided individuals with an ongoing subjective, internal commentary, but through the growth of online social media, identity is “no longer an internal, subjective experience, but is constructed externally and therefore is much less robust and more volatile” ( Foresight, 2013 ). Arguing from the fields of literature and feminist science studies, Susan Merrill Squier observes that “no longer stable, the boundaries of our human existence have become imprecise at best, contested at worst” ( Squier, 2004, p. 7 ). This chapter concerns itself with digital embodiment and the construction of the self as avatar, and the ways in which contemporary arts practices are emerging through the exploration of digitally constructed realities on new technological platforms. This chapter argues that access to the experience of digitally constructed realities enables us reflect upon how our own privately constructed realities are also created and allows us to shed light on the distinctions between fiction and reality.
In 2019 a team of multi-disciplinary researchers undertook a research project entitled Identifyin... more In 2019 a team of multi-disciplinary researchers undertook a research project entitled Identifying Successful STARTS Methodologies (ISSM) (2019-2021) in order to analyze the innovative and collaborative strategies utilized by the global Science, Technology and Arts (STARTS) Prize Winners and nominees. The aim was to identify and articulate successful STARTS Methodologies through a series of interviews and in-depth case studies of the recognized projects. The project culminated in a series of case studies and an exhibition at the Made in Wolves Gallery at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, and further presented at the UK Garden of Earthly Delights at Ars Electronica in 2020. The project identified three emerging themes: the significance of building a new language of art and science through a third space, the process of anti-disciplinarity as an emergent form of practice, and the importance of different ways of knowing through art and science. A number of the case studies and themes are presented here alongside images from the exhibition.
This chapter interrogates the notion of the liminal in relation to the virtual and the imaginary ... more This chapter interrogates the notion of the liminal in relation to the virtual and the imaginary through a consideration of the field of art, science, and technology and current creative practices in virtual worlds and avatar-mediated space. In particular, the art project Meta-Dreamer (2009) is considered through the manifestation of the avatar as digital object. In its attempt to explore the experience of “living between worlds,” it reflects the concerns of contemporary arts practice exploration of time and space relationships. The art project is re-examined in light of key arguments in the provocative text Liminal Lives (Squier, 2004) that advocates a new approach to the liminal in light of current biomedicine and the shifting and emergent qualities of contemporary human life.
Kritical Works in SL is an inWorld exhibition hosted on Kriti Island on the Second Life (SL) grid... more Kritical Works in SL is an inWorld exhibition hosted on Kriti Island on the Second Life (SL) grid, curated by Wanderingfictions Story, my virtual counterpart, and includes work by ten international artists produced in and for SL. The project was launched at ISEA2008 in Singapore. The artists invited to contribute to Kritical Works in SL were selected because they were already exploring the SL platform in some way in their creative practice. Many of the contributors were already well known within SL for their virtual arts practice through their virtual personas and avatars. Under the theme of Reality Jam, the work produced explored the relationship between the virtual and the real within the SL environment. This is the discursive space, described by Jones as the struggle between the real and the virtual, 'that makes virtual reality and virtual worlds so compelling to the contemporary imagination' (2006: 15). This paper will reflect upon the challenges and opportunities of inWorld spaces for creative practice, the role of the virtual artist, and how new virtual practices and virtual relationships are transforming creative opportunities in online and virtual worlds.
This research has previously used the term 'embodied narrative' [7] to explore the imaginary in v... more This research has previously used the term 'embodied narrative' [7] to explore the imaginary in virtual worlds. Using narrative as a method, it explores and decodes the complex layering of conflict between the real and the virtual. Second Life is a performative space par excellence. Hayles [10: 39] explains that when the pov (Hayles' terminology) is 'metaphorized into an interactive space, the datascape is narrativized by the pov's movement through it'. The performativity of interaction in this shared space moves across geographical space though the temporal dimension remains. This paper explores embodiment and performativity as a strategy to understand the impact of new technologies on our real and virtual bodies, and on the imaginations that breathe life into the post-human.
How will we adapt to a future that may see humans as an interplanetary species? The proposed proj... more How will we adapt to a future that may see humans as an interplanetary species? The proposed project uses themes of outer space, future worlds and space travel to examine ways in which our future identities may be formed from these new environments, the role/s we may have in future societies; and the relationships that we will form with the people we will meet. The utilization of virtual and mixed reality (AR/VR) technologies can be a powerful tool in which to place the audience in different scenarios, to experience it from different viewpoints, and to allow them to anticipate what the future may look, feel like, and indeed be like, by being placed into a set of future space scenarios. This paper presents ideas from an interdisciplinary team of artists, scientists, and technologists of methodological approaches for art-science-technology and the prototypes anticipated through these dialogues.
Advances in media, entertainment and the arts (AMEA) book series, 2018
The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenom... more The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenomenological experience of the body into the act of creating itself. Ways of explaining this creative process and its relationship to imaginative experience highlights a phenomenology of virtual practice of artists working in this realm. This chapter explores the phenomenology of the imagination in relation to embodied experience and considers the implications of phenomenology as a methodological approach and presents the case for investigating artistic and imaginative experience through adapting phenomenological research methods.
International journal of art, culture and design technologies, 2014
In the field of art and technology engagement with virtual worlds as spaces for creative practice... more In the field of art and technology engagement with virtual worlds as spaces for creative practice challenges and enhances our understanding of the phenomena of imagining. The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenomenological experience of the body into the act of creating itself. Ways of explaining this creative process and its relationship to imaginative experience highlights a phenomenology of practice of artists working in this realm. This article considers the implications of this methodological approach and presents the case for investigating artistic and imaginative experience through adapting phenomenological research methods.
The Immersed in Learning project began in 2007 to evaluate the use of 3D virtual worlds as a teac... more The Immersed in Learning project began in 2007 to evaluate the use of 3D virtual worlds as a teaching and learning tool in undergraduate programmes in digital media at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. A question that the research set out to explore was what were the benefits of integrating 3D immersive learning with face‐to‐face learning for students who were
During a series of interviews undertaken in Identifying Successful STARTS Methodologies (2019–202... more During a series of interviews undertaken in Identifying Successful STARTS Methodologies (2019–2021), a research project that analyzed strategies utilized by recent STARTS Prize winners and nominees, a number of the artists and scientists described having needed to build a “third space,” or to meet on “another plane,” in order to communicate and find a common language for art-science collaborations. The project team, from University of Wolverhampton (U.K.), collaborated with Ars Electronica and STARTS on the research and found ways to explore the third space concept in three collaborative art-science projects.
2017 23rd International Conference on Virtual System & Multimedia (VSMM), 2017
How will we adapt to a future that may see humans as an interplanetary species? The proposed proj... more How will we adapt to a future that may see humans as an interplanetary species? The proposed project uses themes of outer space, future worlds and space travel to examine ways in which our future identities may be formed from these new environments, the role/s we may have in future societies; and the relationships that we will form with the people we will meet. The utilization of virtual and mixed reality (AR/VR) technologies can be a powerful tool in which to place the audience in different scenarios, to experience it from different viewpoints, and to allow them to anticipate what the future may look, feel like, and indeed be like, by being placed into a set of future space scenarios. This paper presents ideas from an interdisciplinary team of artists, scientists, and technologists of methodological approaches for art-science-technology and the prototypes anticipated through these dialogues.
The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenom... more The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenomenological experience of the body into the act of creating itself. Ways of explaining this creative process and its relationship to imaginative experience highlights a phenomenology of virtual practice of artists working in this realm. This chapter explores the phenomenology of the imagination in relation to embodied experience and considers the implications of phenomenology as a methodological approach and presents the case for investigating artistic and imaginative experience through adapting phenomenological research methods.
International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, May 1, 2008
Abstract As 3D Online Virtual Worlds begin to assume a sense of presence in real terms, there is ... more Abstract As 3D Online Virtual Worlds begin to assume a sense of presence in real terms, there is a growing interest amongst the wider international artistic community in Second Life (SL) as a platform to develop creative practice. A number of artists and designers have continued, ...
Abstract A 2013 UK study forecasting how our identities will change in the following decade noted... more Abstract A 2013 UK study forecasting how our identities will change in the following decade noted that until now, a kind of inner narrative has provided individuals with an ongoing subjective, internal commentary, but through the growth of online social media, identity is “no longer an internal, subjective experience, but is constructed externally and therefore is much less robust and more volatile” ( Foresight, 2013 ). Arguing from the fields of literature and feminist science studies, Susan Merrill Squier observes that “no longer stable, the boundaries of our human existence have become imprecise at best, contested at worst” ( Squier, 2004, p. 7 ). This chapter concerns itself with digital embodiment and the construction of the self as avatar, and the ways in which contemporary arts practices are emerging through the exploration of digitally constructed realities on new technological platforms. This chapter argues that access to the experience of digitally constructed realities enables us reflect upon how our own privately constructed realities are also created and allows us to shed light on the distinctions between fiction and reality.
In 2019 a team of multi-disciplinary researchers undertook a research project entitled Identifyin... more In 2019 a team of multi-disciplinary researchers undertook a research project entitled Identifying Successful STARTS Methodologies (ISSM) (2019-2021) in order to analyze the innovative and collaborative strategies utilized by the global Science, Technology and Arts (STARTS) Prize Winners and nominees. The aim was to identify and articulate successful STARTS Methodologies through a series of interviews and in-depth case studies of the recognized projects. The project culminated in a series of case studies and an exhibition at the Made in Wolves Gallery at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, and further presented at the UK Garden of Earthly Delights at Ars Electronica in 2020. The project identified three emerging themes: the significance of building a new language of art and science through a third space, the process of anti-disciplinarity as an emergent form of practice, and the importance of different ways of knowing through art and science. A number of the case studies and themes are presented here alongside images from the exhibition.
This chapter interrogates the notion of the liminal in relation to the virtual and the imaginary ... more This chapter interrogates the notion of the liminal in relation to the virtual and the imaginary through a consideration of the field of art, science, and technology and current creative practices in virtual worlds and avatar-mediated space. In particular, the art project Meta-Dreamer (2009) is considered through the manifestation of the avatar as digital object. In its attempt to explore the experience of “living between worlds,” it reflects the concerns of contemporary arts practice exploration of time and space relationships. The art project is re-examined in light of key arguments in the provocative text Liminal Lives (Squier, 2004) that advocates a new approach to the liminal in light of current biomedicine and the shifting and emergent qualities of contemporary human life.
Kritical Works in SL is an inWorld exhibition hosted on Kriti Island on the Second Life (SL) grid... more Kritical Works in SL is an inWorld exhibition hosted on Kriti Island on the Second Life (SL) grid, curated by Wanderingfictions Story, my virtual counterpart, and includes work by ten international artists produced in and for SL. The project was launched at ISEA2008 in Singapore. The artists invited to contribute to Kritical Works in SL were selected because they were already exploring the SL platform in some way in their creative practice. Many of the contributors were already well known within SL for their virtual arts practice through their virtual personas and avatars. Under the theme of Reality Jam, the work produced explored the relationship between the virtual and the real within the SL environment. This is the discursive space, described by Jones as the struggle between the real and the virtual, 'that makes virtual reality and virtual worlds so compelling to the contemporary imagination' (2006: 15). This paper will reflect upon the challenges and opportunities of inWorld spaces for creative practice, the role of the virtual artist, and how new virtual practices and virtual relationships are transforming creative opportunities in online and virtual worlds.
This research has previously used the term 'embodied narrative' [7] to explore the imaginary in v... more This research has previously used the term 'embodied narrative' [7] to explore the imaginary in virtual worlds. Using narrative as a method, it explores and decodes the complex layering of conflict between the real and the virtual. Second Life is a performative space par excellence. Hayles [10: 39] explains that when the pov (Hayles' terminology) is 'metaphorized into an interactive space, the datascape is narrativized by the pov's movement through it'. The performativity of interaction in this shared space moves across geographical space though the temporal dimension remains. This paper explores embodiment and performativity as a strategy to understand the impact of new technologies on our real and virtual bodies, and on the imaginations that breathe life into the post-human.
How will we adapt to a future that may see humans as an interplanetary species? The proposed proj... more How will we adapt to a future that may see humans as an interplanetary species? The proposed project uses themes of outer space, future worlds and space travel to examine ways in which our future identities may be formed from these new environments, the role/s we may have in future societies; and the relationships that we will form with the people we will meet. The utilization of virtual and mixed reality (AR/VR) technologies can be a powerful tool in which to place the audience in different scenarios, to experience it from different viewpoints, and to allow them to anticipate what the future may look, feel like, and indeed be like, by being placed into a set of future space scenarios. This paper presents ideas from an interdisciplinary team of artists, scientists, and technologists of methodological approaches for art-science-technology and the prototypes anticipated through these dialogues.
Advances in media, entertainment and the arts (AMEA) book series, 2018
The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenom... more The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenomenological experience of the body into the act of creating itself. Ways of explaining this creative process and its relationship to imaginative experience highlights a phenomenology of virtual practice of artists working in this realm. This chapter explores the phenomenology of the imagination in relation to embodied experience and considers the implications of phenomenology as a methodological approach and presents the case for investigating artistic and imaginative experience through adapting phenomenological research methods.
International journal of art, culture and design technologies, 2014
In the field of art and technology engagement with virtual worlds as spaces for creative practice... more In the field of art and technology engagement with virtual worlds as spaces for creative practice challenges and enhances our understanding of the phenomena of imagining. The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenomenological experience of the body into the act of creating itself. Ways of explaining this creative process and its relationship to imaginative experience highlights a phenomenology of practice of artists working in this realm. This article considers the implications of this methodological approach and presents the case for investigating artistic and imaginative experience through adapting phenomenological research methods.
The Immersed in Learning project began in 2007 to evaluate the use of 3D virtual worlds as a teac... more The Immersed in Learning project began in 2007 to evaluate the use of 3D virtual worlds as a teaching and learning tool in undergraduate programmes in digital media at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. A question that the research set out to explore was what were the benefits of integrating 3D immersive learning with face‐to‐face learning for students who were
During a series of interviews undertaken in Identifying Successful STARTS Methodologies (2019–202... more During a series of interviews undertaken in Identifying Successful STARTS Methodologies (2019–2021), a research project that analyzed strategies utilized by recent STARTS Prize winners and nominees, a number of the artists and scientists described having needed to build a “third space,” or to meet on “another plane,” in order to communicate and find a common language for art-science collaborations. The project team, from University of Wolverhampton (U.K.), collaborated with Ars Electronica and STARTS on the research and found ways to explore the third space concept in three collaborative art-science projects.
2017 23rd International Conference on Virtual System & Multimedia (VSMM), 2017
How will we adapt to a future that may see humans as an interplanetary species? The proposed proj... more How will we adapt to a future that may see humans as an interplanetary species? The proposed project uses themes of outer space, future worlds and space travel to examine ways in which our future identities may be formed from these new environments, the role/s we may have in future societies; and the relationships that we will form with the people we will meet. The utilization of virtual and mixed reality (AR/VR) technologies can be a powerful tool in which to place the audience in different scenarios, to experience it from different viewpoints, and to allow them to anticipate what the future may look, feel like, and indeed be like, by being placed into a set of future space scenarios. This paper presents ideas from an interdisciplinary team of artists, scientists, and technologists of methodological approaches for art-science-technology and the prototypes anticipated through these dialogues.
The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenom... more The experience of creating in technology-mediated spaces through an avatar form brings the phenomenological experience of the body into the act of creating itself. Ways of explaining this creative process and its relationship to imaginative experience highlights a phenomenology of virtual practice of artists working in this realm. This chapter explores the phenomenology of the imagination in relation to embodied experience and considers the implications of phenomenology as a methodological approach and presents the case for investigating artistic and imaginative experience through adapting phenomenological research methods.
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Papers by Denise Doyle