This trend is a step further into interactive art, combining interaction with immersion in a virtual reality environment (mostly). Immersion is defined as the state of consciousness where a person’s awareness of physical self is diminished or lost by being surrounded in an engrossing total environment - often artificial. The term is widely used for describing immersive virtual reality, installation art and video games. This trend is obviously concerned with the art aspect. An immersive digital environment is an artificial, interactive, computer-created scene or "world" within which users can immerse themselves. Interactive art is generally considered to be something physical and solid to be messed with and moved around, but this trend incorporates computer and, often, projection or film technology. The whole idea is to involve the audience in a virtual, immersive experience. I titled this trend as “hyper-interactivism” or “immersionism” because of that extra level of involvement. One artist, Maurice Benayoun, created the Tunnel Under the Atlantic and Cosmopolis. The Tunnel features an “entrance” in Paris and one in Monreal, allowing people in those areas to view each other by what has been described as “televirtuality.” Cosmopolis is a very large-scale rotunda of sorts with 12 screens facing a center. There are 12 little view stations that each show a 360 degree view of one of 12 cities. What is being viewed from those view-finders at a particular moment is projected onto the screens, creating a giant 360 degree view of a cityscape created by bits of other cities. Another artist, Don Ritter, created Vested and Intersection. Intersection features a dark room with 4 speakers representing a 4-lane highway. Each speaker contains a sensor that, when it senses a person, will react by projecting sounds of cars screeching to a halt, accelerating, or crashing. The last artist I chose for my presentation is Myron W. Krueger. He is an American computer artist who developed early interactive works, and is in the first generation of virtual reality researchers. One of his ideas sums up my trend well: the art of interactivity, as opposed to art that happens to be interactive. He did several pieces of art leading up to this bigger virtual immersion art in the late 60s and early 70s. The piece I featured was Small Planet, which allows the user to stand in from and control what he viewed of this small planet by moving his arms in an airplane fashion.

1. Hyper-Interactivism
or
Immersionism
Mary Sader

2. Immersion:
(Virtual Reality)
• Immersion is the state
of consciousness where
a person’s awareness
of physical self is
diminished or lost by
being surrounded in an
engrossing total
environment; often
artificial
• Widely used for
describing immersive
virtual reality,
installation art and video
games
• An immersive
digital
environment is an
artificial, interactive,
computer-created
scene or "world"
within which a user
can immerse
themselves.

3. Maurice Benayoun
• French
• New-media artist

4. The Tunnel Under the Atlantic
• 1995
• A virtual tunnel between Pompidou Centre in Paris
(right) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in
Montreal (left)
• “Televirtuality”
• Architecture of communication

5. Cosmopolis
• 2005
• “Cosmopolis endeavours to examine urban realities through
people's eyes. It is an artistic, and scientific interpretation of
urbanization, making a visit a physical and intellectual
experience.”
• Paris , Berlin , Barcelona , Chicago , Johannesburg , Cairo ,
Sao Paulo , Beijing , Shanghai , Chongqing , Chengdu , Hong
Kong

6. Don Ritter
• Canadian artist living in
Berlin, Germany
• Work consists primarily
of large interactive
video and sound
installations that
audiences control
through their body
position, body
movement or voice.
• Content is primarily
concerned with human
behavior.

7. Vested
• 2009
• a large interactive video and sound
installation that "reflects the commodification
of human tragedy."

8. Intersection
• 1993
• An interactive sound installation within a large dark
room. The work presents the sounds of four lanes of
car traffic that respond to audiences by screeching to
a halt, idling, accelerating or crashing into each other.

9. Myron W. Krueger
• American computer artist who developed
early interactive works.
• One of the first generation virtual reality and
augmented reality researchers.
• Envisioned the art of interactivity, as opposed
to art that happens to be interactive.

10. Early Interactive Work
• In 1969, he collaborated with Dan Sandin, Jerry
Erdman and Richard Venezky on a computer
controlled environment called "glowflow," a computercontrolled light sound environment that responded to
the people within it.
• Developed Metaplay, an integration of visuals,
sounds, and responsive techniques into a single
framework. The computer was used to create a
unique real-time relationship between the participants
in the gallery and the artist in another building.
• In 1971, his "Psychic space" used a sensory floor to
perceive the participants' movements around the
environment.

11. Small Planet
• 1998
• Interactive computer graphics

12. CAVE:
Cave Automatic Virtual
Environment
• An immersive virtual
reality environment
where projectors are
directed to three, four,
five or six of the walls of
a room-sized cube.
• Rear-projection screens
• The first CAVE was
developed in the
Electronic Visualization
Laboratory at University
of Illinois at Chicago

13. Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersive_virtual_reality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Benayoun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU_MOJVGgbQ
http://www.benayoun.com/projet.php?id=31
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Ritter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myron_Krueger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_Automatic_Virtual_En
vironment