Hybrid Ontologies: An Attempt to Define Networked Mixed Reality Art

(Long paper)

Keywords: Networked Mixed Reality Art, Post-biological Identity, Embodiment, Speculative/Flexible Frameworks, Hybrid Terminology, Transinduvidual Ontology, Hypersurface Interfacing, Data Bodies.

This paper provides an introduction to recent research that explores the psycho-topographical relationship between bodies of matter, embodied data and data bodies, presenting a contribution to the field of mixed reality art, with a particular focus on postbiological identity. The research presents an exploration of several theoretical discourses, along with introducing a number of new hybrid terms, in order to reposition current discourses relating to this field. Through this, a new speculative and flexible framework is proposed that disrupts existing mixed reality discourses, in order to focus specifically on networked mixed reality art in relation to post-biological identity. While there was a considerable practical contribution to the development of this research being presented, this paper focuses particularly on the development of a theoretical framework for speculatively understanding the field, articulating the background to this process and the resulting hybrid terms that have been established in order to better discuss the field.