"VIRTUAL ART" by Oliver Grau: Lecture Series

Nov. 26, 2002

Type: opportunity
Deadline: Nov 26 2002 at 1:00AM
outbound link ↱

VIRTUAL ART: From Illusion to Immersion'
by Oliver Grau

(forthcoming from MIT Press)

See TOUR DATES below

Although many people view virtual and mixed realities as a totally new phen=
omenon, it has its foundations in an unrecognized history of immersive imag=
es. The search for illusionary visual space can be traced back to antiquity=
. Oliver Grau shows how virtual art fits into the art history of illusion a=
nd immersion and shows how each epoch used the technical means available to=
produce maximum illusion from Pompeiis Villa dei Misteri via baroque fresc=
oes, panoramas, immersive cinema to the CAVE. He describes the metamorphosi=
s of the concepts of art and the image and relates those concepts to intera=
ctive art, interface design, agents, telepresence, and image evolution. Gra=
u retells art history as media history, helping us to understand the phenom=
enon of immersion beyond the hype.

Doing that, Grau draws on the work of contemporary artists like Maurice Ben=
ayoun, Charlotte Davies, Monika Fleischmann, Eduardo Kac, Christa Sommerer,=
Michael Naimark, Simon Penny, Daniela Plewe, Jeffrey Shaw et al.

Oliver Grau is lecturer in Art History at Humboldt University, Berlin, and =
head of the German Science Foundation's project on "Immersive Art". He is c=
reating the International Database of Virtual Art with the aid of the Feder=
al Ministry of Education and Science. Grau is visiting professor in Linz.

LECTURE TOUR (sponsored by Goethe Institute and various hosts).

San Francisco, UC Berkeley, Monday Dec. 2
The Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium
160 Kroeber Hall
Curated by Ken Goldberg with ATC Advisory Board
7:30-9:00pm

Stanford University, Tuesday Dec. 3
4:15 pm
Stanford University, Lane History Building 200, Room 307

Los Angeles, UCLA (Department of Design and Media Arts), Wednesday Dec. 4
6 pm - 7 pm
Kinross North Bldg. Room 104 - EDA

Chicago, School of the Art Institute, Friday Dec. 6
Noon talk from 12-1p.m.
SAIC Auditorium
280 S. Columbus Dr. (Corner of Jackson and Columbus Dr.)

Toronto, Goethe-Institut, Sunday Dec. 8
Goethe-Institut Toronto
11:00 am, New Media ,Fruhstuck'
163 King St. W.

Ann Arbor, UMICH/School of Art and Design, Monday Dec. 9
Art & Architecture Building, 5:15 p.m.
North Campus, Bonisteel Boulevard

New York, Parsons School of Design, Tuesday Dec. 10
Parsons School of Design, Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th Street, 7 p.m.
Moderated by Christiane Paul, the Whitney's adjunct curator of new media ar=
ts.

(For more information: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?sid=
=26570CB6-AB47-414B-A780-1ECA08AAB2D3&ttype=2&tid=9214)