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Thesis Info

LABS ID
00731
Thesis Title
Transcending Perception: An Exploration into Virtual, Mixed, and Expanded Reality
Author
John Desnoyers-Stewart
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
Master of Fine Arts
Year
2018
Number of Pages
64
University
University of Regina
Thesis Supervisor
Megan L. Smith
Supervisor e-mail
Other Supervisor(s)
David Gerhard
Language(s) of Thesis
English
Department / Discipline
Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance
Languages Familiar to Author
URL where full thesis can be found
ourspace.uregina.ca/handle/10294/8318
Keywords
virtual reality, mixed reality, virtuality, public virtual reality, interactive installation
Abstract: 200-500 words
As interest in Virtual Reality (VR) grows, there is a need to critically engage with it, to explore the possibilities created by it, and to understand the technology and content required for its success. VR is considered in terms of its purpose and function rather than being fixed to any particular technology. To keep pace with the rapid progression of this field, VR is explored with a vision towards its future. VR is a communication medium that connects more directly to the senses than any prior media, mediating perception almost directly. VR requires that the user’s unavoidable connection to reality be acknowledged while simultaneously expanding upon that reality. Through a stronger connection with the virtual, VR can expand the domain of natural experience as the virtual becomes more directly integrated in reality. The proliferation of virtual technology has produced a shift towards the body as framer of information. VR attempts to remove the frame entirely, connecting directly with the viewer’s senses. VR is intrinsically participative and public installations are inherently social. Their combination into public VR translates a technology that might otherwise be private and disconnected into a site of participative social production. Following a practice-based research and design method informed by the arts and engineering, the limitations and requirements of VR production are confronted. New interfaces are developed and concepts for the application of VR established through an open, continuously iterative process. This exploration culminates in the exhibition of the technology, concepts, and theory encountered through a public VR installation that encourages social interaction and play and provides an opportunity to experience and understand the potential of VR.