The Instrumentality of Pain in Virtual Reality

Symposium:

• ISEA95: Sixth International Symposium on Electronic Art
• More presentations from ISEA95:  

• Sharing Subjectivities: Exploring new concepts of Interface Design

• The Instrumentality of Pain in Virtual Reality

• Diane Gromala

Venue(s):

• Hôtel Le Méridien, Montreal, Canada

• This paper will explore two sets of virtual environments —Virtual Bodies, and NBC’s virtual environments as used in the OJ Simpson trial— as sites of continual contestation and negotiation among social, political, economic, and technological forces; as phenomena through which notions of subjectivity flow and collide; and as demonstrations of the incommensurability of pain and terror. This immersive, interactive virtual environment is comprised of digital data obtained from technologies which are able to extend our perception to apprehend previously inaccessible properties of our bodies.

Category:

• Panel