Critical Approaches to Virtual Reality: A Conversation about the Present, Past and Future of VR
Presenters: Tina Sauerlaender, Erandy Vergara, Paloma Dawkins, Tali Goldstein and Ruben Farrus (Casa Rara)
May 24th, 5pm to 7pm
Milieux Institute at Concordia University
Recent art projects and discussions about VR seem mostly awestruck by the possibilities of the technologies themselves. However, there are critical and historical perspectives that we must address in order to investigate issues of aesthetics, politics, and the conceptual aspects of VR artworks and games. This conversation will include questions such as: How can artists and collectives working with Virtual Reality today challenge mainstream uses of this technology? What can we learn from the pioneers of VR and the criticism that media theorists asked regarding early celebratory discourses? Where are we in regards to issues of embodiment/disembodiment? What about feminist and postcolonial critiques of VR?
Studio XX sincerely thanks the Goethe-Institut and the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at Concordia University for their support as partners of this event.
Image: Exhibition view THE UNFRAMED WORLD at HeK Basel, artwork: Banz & Bowinkel, Mercury, 2016 (Installation view, VR experience) / Photo by Franz Wamhof