What does it mean to be virtual?

Steve Gibson (left) & Dene Grigar (right) performing Virtual DJ at Archer Gallery, November 2007; photo by Jeannette Altman

Virtuality is derived from the Latin word virtus, “essence” or “force”

• A quality of an object distinct from the notion of “digital”

• “Viewing conditions” shape our perspective of virtual objects & how to understand them

• The space for viewing virtual objects includes both the architectural space & the space provided by the digital device used to present it

CMDC students Ross Swanson & Reed Rotondo with Citycube, a 3D fly-through of downtown Vancouver, March 2010; photo by Dene Grigar

From Vince Dziekan’s Virtuality and the Art of Exhibition

Virtuality is “the characteristic quality of aesthetic experience” that explores “the nature

of the artwork (as an open aesthetic system) and the exhibition” (Dziekan 19).

Kathi Inman Berens (left) with visitor to “Electronic Literature” exhibit in Seattle, WA; photo by Kerri Lingo

The relationship between Digital & Virtual

Mobile apps are digital objects with features specific to it different than other virtual objects

Digital is a State

Virtuality is a Quality of that State

Signifies object exists in a State that can be expressed in 0s & 1s by a computing device

Signifies object in that State carries unique features distinct from those possible in the real world

What the object “IS”

What it “MEANS” for object to exist in that manner

“Liquid Architectures”

“The relation between virtual spaces and larger physical world is not a duality between a virtual world and a real world; rather, human activity takes part in both.” Exploring “the similarities and overlaps that exist” may provide us with a better understanding of this relation (Dziekan 20).

A diagram of the MOVE and the GAMS labs highlighting the connectivity between the virtual objects evoked in the two spaces; graphic by Dene Grigar

Digital & Virtual

Various perspectives of M.D. Coverley’s “Tide-Land”; photo by John Barber

We develop an understanding of a work through studying its digital and virtual qualities. The

way its material presence is instantiated depends on its technical make-up, while the physical presence of the spaces it inhabits

influences our views, assumptions, and perspectives and experience about and with the

work.

Illusionism• “Conjures up access to another space or event that by definition has occurred elsewhere”

• Has potential to “induce” viewer to “imaginatively pass to the ‘other side’ of the image” & step “out from the bounds of [the] present placement . . . and location”

• Disrupts separation of viewer & object, resulting in “new meanings” & understandings

Activity in an art appreciation course, http://artsinculture.blogspot.com/2011/08/unit-4-renaissance-arts-visual-art.html

A diagram of how camera obscura works, from http://lashp.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/camera-obscura/

From Vince Dziekan’s Virtuality and the Art of Exhibition

Relational Aesthetics

“Art is a space of images, objects, and human beings.” Relational aesthetics is a way of considering the productive existence of the viewer of art, the space of participation that the art can offer” (Dziekan 24).

CMDC student Geoff Wallace performing Impact to high school students Fall 2011; photo by Dene Grigar

In-Class ActivityDirections: Working with the other members of your pod, study apps found on the iPad. 1.  Jason Edward Lewis' “Speak,” “Know, “”The Great Migration,” “No Choice,” “Rattlesnakes, “”The World Was White”2.  Jody Zellen's “Spine Sonnet” and “Urban Rhythms”3.  Mark Amerika's Immobilite4.  Muller's “For All Seasons”

How would you organize these works in a space, keeping in mind concepts like “Illusionism,” “relational aesthetics, “ and “virtuality”? Be prepared to explain your choices.