Immersed in Technology: Art and Virtual Environments - Softcover

Virtual reality, like many technologies in their infancy, was not developed with a singular purpose in mind, and still lacks a fixed raison d'être. Seizing the moment, the writers and artists in this book have taken a rare initiative by proposing a host of creative forms and ideas for the multifunctional use of virtual environments.

Immersed in Technology realizes two extraordinary goals. It demonstrates that serious historical and critical thinking about virtual reality and the implications of technologies of immersive environments can be accomplished with neither excessive speculation nor vague promises. It confirms that a number of artists are deeply engaged in extending the boundaries of representation into the territory of experiential computation without falling into the traps of cryptic electronic iconography or hollow interactive novelty. The essays and projects in this book confront the uses of electronic environments and virtual reality as a tangible cultural force linked with the development of communication media and an entirely revamped experience of art.