Through the Eyes of the Last Medium: the Witness and the New Virtual Reality ~ Jake Bohrod

Jul 6, 2018 | Digital Media/Internet, Film, Virtual Reality, Volume 30

Abstract: This article interrogates the role of the witness spectator in 360-degree virtual reality nonfiction. As the postmedia age promises the softening of discreet media forms and the rise of a singular mode of mediated experience, the new virtual reality – one...

Frameless Fictions: Exploring the Compatibility of Virtual Reality and the Horror Genre ~ Vicki Williams

Jul 6, 2018 | Digital Media/Internet, Film, Games, Virtual Reality, Volume 30

Abstract: Virtual reality (VR), with its huge diversity of cultural conceptions and definitions, is a wholly paradoxical technological phenomenon: it is at once futuristic yet retrograde, exciting yet unsettling, a simulation and yet reality. The potentials for VR lie...

Heritage Site Simulacra in VR: Transforming Mnemonics ~ Scott Webster

Jul 5, 2018 | Digital Media/Internet, Museums, Virtual Reality, Volume 30

Abstract: The pursuit of increasingly immersive simulations of three-dimensional space has naturally led to reproductions of existing physical spaces, including notable heritage sites, in virtual reality. The recent, well-publicised vandalism of such sites in Syria...

A Century of Virtual Amusement ~ Malcolm Burt & Joel Zika

Jul 3, 2018 | Digital Media/Internet, Older Media, Other, Virtual Reality, Volume 30

Abstract: At the turn of 20th century the whole of America was talking about Coney Island—New York’s famous entertainment district was booming, and sported attractions like none other.  Coney Island’s most famous amusement park was Steeplechase Park, there you could...

Media Influence on Expectations of Virtual Reality ~ Emma Kaylee Graves

Jul 3, 2018 | Digital Media/Internet, Film, Virtual Reality, Volume 30

Abstract: Although virtual reality (VR) technologies like Oculus Rift, Sony PlayStation VR and Samsung Gear VR have only recently become available for consumer use, VR has appeared in fictional works (such as novels and films) since 1964 (Steinicke, 2016). This means...

Queering virtual reality with drag realness: a case study of a creative investigation (Video Essay with accompanying text) ~ Alison Bennett and Megan Beckwith

Jul 1, 2018 | Digital Media/Internet, Virtual Reality, Volume 30

Welcome! This text unpacks intersections between virtuality and drag that emerged during the making of a VR artwork called Virtual Drag made by Alison Bennett, Megan Beckwith and Mark Payne. Whilst making the work, we realised that drag offers some useful pathways for...