In this VR-powered course you will learn how to engage with a broad range of debates concerning ‘the virtual’ – with a particular focus on learning how to apply art-historical perspectives on illusion and immersion to both the novel and the longstanding tendencies in art, media and exhibition practice. What can the frescoes of Pompeii and the Baroque illusionistic ceilings reveal about present-day cultural fascination with IMAX cinema screens; virtual reality headsets; and the dreams of a Metaverse future? Vice versa, what can recent VR technologies bring to the representation and preservation of art and heritage?
The course will feature a mix of practical assignments; theoretical discussions; and introductory and exploratory sessions with the VR medium. For this purpose we have obtained a VR headset, as well as licensed access to the Radiance VR App containing VR artworks of 32 artists from 16 countries. We will be accompanied in this journey by Dr Tina Sauerlaender in key VR sessions, who will bring experience of making this app as well as her duties as artistic director of the VR ART PRIZE and as a curator of numerous international VR art exhibitions. Thus, no previous experience with VR technologies is required as you will be in safe hands to make the first leap.
Practical assignments will include a group project of curating an exhibition at the site of the XR Hub of the Deutsches Museum, as well as short critical writing piece on immersive exhibitions based on projector technology available in Munich. These assignments will be informed by the theoretical perspectives on immersion and ‘the virtual’ we will jointly explore in the seminars, including the writings of Oliver Grau, Olafur Eliasson, Erkki Huhtamo, Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, among others. For the group exhibition in 2025, there is potential to focus on the newly acquired Taiwanese artists for which we have the licence in the VR Radiance App, but that is to be discussed by the group as a curating collective. The aim of the course is to develop an informed, critical approach to both the VR phenomenon in particular, and the longstanding history of immersion as a mode of experience in art.
- Trainer/in: Boris Cuckovic