Immersive Embodiment: Theatres of Mislocalized Sensation

ISBN-13: 9783030279738 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 255 str.

Liam Jarvis

Spis treści

Acknowledgements

List of Illustrations

List of Abbreviations

Chapter 1:  

Introduction

Immersion as ‘Perceptual Embodiment’

The Paradox of ‘Presence’ in Immersive Theatres

Towards Reconciling the Problem of the Spectator’s Presence ‘Elsewhere’

Cognitive Studies, Theatre Scholarship and ‘Neuromania’

Structure of the Book

References

Part One

Chapter 2: 

Proto-immersive Discourse & the ‘Theatrical Condition’

Introduction: Bodily Denial in Art Theory

Friedian/Diderotian Anti-theatricality

‘Entering’ Paintings: Absorptive & Theatrical Immersion

Immersed Bodies as ‘Laboratories of Doubt’: Catherine Richards, Carsten Höller, Lundahl & Seitl

Intersensory Conflict: Catherine Richards’ Installations

Staging Perplexity: Carsten Höller’s Umkehrbrille, The Pinocchio Effect and The Forests

Immersant-as-‘situated self’: Lundahl & Seitl’s Symphony of a Missing Room (2009-2014)

Conclusion

References

Chapter 3:

The Immersive Promise of Becoming [with] the Other Body

Introduction

‘Immersive’ and ‘Immersion’: Etymologies and Interdisciplinary Definitions

Conceptualizing Immersed Bodies in Performance

Immersive Technologies: Genealogies and Ontologies of ‘Immersion’ in Media Theory

Immersion as ‘Totalization’

‘Prioritizing’ or Transcending Bodies?: ‘Immersion’ in the Virtual

Conclusion

References

Chapter 4:

Body-swapping: Self-attribution and Body Transfer Illusions (BTIs)

Introduction: If I Were You

The Narratological Problem: A Survey of Body-swapping in Fiction & its Correlates in Digital Culture

Actual & Virtual Body-swapping: Out-of-body Experiences (OBEs) and Subtle Bodies-as-self Model

The Philosophical Problem: Bodies of ‘Certainty’?

The Expanded Umwelt: Adapting & Referring Human Sensations to Non-human Others

‘Knowing’ Neuroatypical & Self-effacing Bodies?

The Physical Problem: Historic Body Illusions and ‘Proprioception’

Proprioception, Phantom Limb Pain (PLP) & Selfhood

The Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI): Intersensory Bias & Proprioceptive Drift

Risk: Cyber Therapy, Self-protection & Virtual Proxies

Conclusion

References

Part Two

Part Two: Overview

References

Chapter 5:

‘Empathy Activism’ & Bodying Difference in Postdigital Culture: Jane Gauntlett’s In My Shoes & BeAnotherLab’s The Machine to be Another

Introduction: VR Performance

VR Auto-phenomenology: Mislocalized Sensation as Applied Perceptual Immersion

Jane Gauntlett’s In My Shoes: Origins

Mentoring and Facilitation – First-person Immersion & Person-centered Planning (PCP)

BeAnotherLab: The Machine to Be Another & the Library of Ourselves

Conclusion: ‘Empathy’, the sine qua non of morality?

References

Chapter 6:

Touching with a Virtualized Hand: Analogue’s Transports

Introduction: Immersion and Tremor

Transports: The Experience

Transports: Genealogies

‘Wizard of Oz’ testing

User-testing 176

Evidence Gathering / Evaluation

Conclusion

References

Chapter 7:

The Suffering Avatar: Vicarity & Resistance in Body-tracked Multi-player Gaming

Introduction: Hyper-intercorporeality & Immersion in Anvio’s City Z (2017-)

Virtualized Distress: Immersive Synchrony in Videogames and Beyond

System Failure: Uncanny Avatars & Glitches as a Site of Recuperation

Conclusion

Conclusion:

The Theft of the Dragon Sabre: Bodies at Risk in Digital Reality

References

Index

O autorze

Liam Jarvis is a researcher, theatre maker and Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex, UK. Since 2007, he has been co-director of Analogue, whose work has toured the UK and Europe. His research and teaching have focused on immersion, embodiment and contemporary participatory practices in (post)digital culture. He has published numerous book chapters and articles in journals such as Performance Research and the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. He is currently co-convener of the Intermediality in Theatre & Performance Working Group at the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) and a board member for Theatre-Rites.

Blurb

This book offers a wide-ranging examination of acts of ‘virtual embodiment’ in performance/gaming/applied contexts that abstract an immersant’s sense of physical selfhood by instating a virtual body, body-part or computer-generated avatar. Emergent ‘immersive’ practices in an increasingly expanding and cross-disciplinary field are coinciding with a wealth of new scientific knowledge in body-ownership and self-attribution. A growing understanding of the way a body constructs its sense of selfhood is intersecting with the historically persistent desire to make an onto-relational link between the body that ‘knows’ an experience and bodies that cannot know without occupying their unique point of view. The author argues that the desire to empathize with another’s ineffable bodily experiences is finding new expression in contexts of particular urgency. For example, patients wishing to communicate their complex physical experiences to their extended networks of support in healthcare, or communities placing policymakers ‘inside’ vulnerable, marginalized or disenfranchised virtual bodies in an attempt to prompt personal change. This book is intended for students, academics and practitioner-researchers studying or working in the related fields of immersive theatre/art-making, arts-science and VR in applied performance practices.