The philosophical debate concerning virtuality has so far privileged metaphysical issues, asking whether or not virtual spaces and objects should be considered as real or illusory. With this conference, we suggest bracketing such metaphysical questions for a while and focus instead on the relationship between virtuality and experience. In this framework, we would like to favour a phenomenological approach that understands virtuality as a mode of experience that is often mediated by technology.
The range of questions that this conference aims to address includes, but is not limited to, the following: What does it mean to experience ‘virtuality’? What is the phenomenological structure of the virtual? How does experiencing a virtual world reshape our ordinary lives? What is the relationship between the virtual and the imaginary? What role does immersivity play in virtual environments? What distinguishes VR devices from other media? What is the space for empathy in virtual interactions? How is personal identity preserved but also transformed within virtual worlds?
Conference Schedule
Thursday 14 December – FriArt Kunsthalle, Fribourg
15.00 – Conference opening & greetings
15.15 – Oliver Krüger (Fribourg) – Paradise regained? The promise of virtuality
16.30 – Coffee Break
17.00 – Lars Bang Larsen (Copenhagen) – Take Me to Another World: Charlotte Johannesson and the externality of media and systems
18.30 – Guided Visit of the Exhibition by Charlotte Johannesson
Friday 15 December – University of Fribourg – MIS3016
09.00 – Paula Muhr (Karlsruhe) – Immersive simulation as targeted stimulation: Using virtual reality as a visual tool in medical research on functional neurological disorder
10.00 – Fabrizia Bandi (Milan) – Diving into virtual worlds: Digital image and immersive space in VR experiences
11.00 – Coffee Break
11.30 – Andrea Pinotti (Milan) – Nonumentality today between VR and AR
12.45 – Lunch Break
14.30 – Erika Temperino (Pisa) – Being human in VR: Can virtual relationships be authentic?
15.30 – Anais Giannuzzo (Geneva) – Creativity and virtual reality
16.30 – Coffee Break
17.00 – Aurora Hoel (NTNU) – Embodiment and the operationally real
18.15 – Conclusion
Saturday 16 December – University of Fribourg – MIS3016
09.30 – Zuzanna Rucinska (Antwerp) – Experiencing virtual affordances
10.45 – Coffee Break
11.00 – Arthur Cools (Antwerp) – Reflecting or consuming? A critique of aesthetic judgment in visual VR experiences
12.15 – Enrico Terrone (Genoa) –An experiential taxonomy of depictive representations: From paintings and sculptures to virtual reality
13.30 – Conclusion