Intersecting the Virtual and the Real

Intersecting the Virtual and the real: Space in interactive media Installations. (1998) George Legrady

“To experience space is to engage with it through ones presence, to possess it by being immersed in it, in the way one posse’s space inside a room, in the park or on the streets. Computer generated virtual immersive environments create the illusion of space by stimulating virtual clues such as boundaries declinations, which allow us to perceive directionally and to circulate.”

This is a very interesting concept- I have briefly looked at the whole concept of space, but didn’t realise how powerful it could be- or how much of an effect it could have in terms of other users interacting with the spaces.

“In the process of interacting with the digital world we can consider ‘real space’ to be the site where our real bodies come into contact with the technological devices by which we can experience virtual space. Social space then becomes the site where we gather to watch each other coming into contact with the technological devices used to engage with virtual devices.”

This is another interesting theory that has been brought up in terms of the users interacting with the space. In relation to my concept the fact the multi-touch video wall will be so large (essentially the size of wall) will mean that this will have numerous people interacting with this technological devise simultaneously-this does indeed create a social space due to numerous people being in the same space, not only interacting with the device but with each other.

In looking at how this ‘social experience’ has been used with existing technology George Legrady looks at its relation to the cinema:

“The cinematic experience normally requires a public space and social space in which it is to take place therefore embodies a social experience. Viewers can come together at a present time to experience the event. They are physically present, orchestrated within a designated in a determined format consisting the arrangement of seats. The audience communal presence within this institutionalised space becomes the occasion for the experiencing of cinematic work.”

This is an interesting idea that getting a lot of people together creates an event-which it does but also that of a social environment- which when you look at it could also expand the whole concept of interaction.

George Legrady also talks in-depth about how participating in an interactive work within the context of a museum space implies engaging with spectacle and a form of audience.

“The experience is performative in the sense that the audience is engaged as both performer and spectator: performing through the interaction with the work, functioning as a spectator through the observation of what occurs when the other audience members are in performance mode.”

This is a really interesting philosophy of how the audience becoming the performer as well as the spectator- this also works along then theme of the social environment. This concept is very similar to other theorist that I have researched. However they have described this concept in a slightly different way.