Why is the body the ultimate factor for emotional immersion in VR, MR and AR?

The central role of the body and its representation in VR, MR and AR is illuminated in four successive short lectures and subsequent conversations.

The longing for the vulnerable presence of the other person, the body and its feelings, is a common thread through the paradigm shift of the digital revolution: Never before have there been so many concerts and festivals, never before so many people attended dance, theater and performances, never before so many congress formats. And the first downloads for VR games and applications also reflect this development: communicative, open multiplayer are much more popular than single player applications. The artist and theorist Milos Trakilovic reflects the performance Shoot (in which Chris Burden got shot for real) to help us undertstand the body as the ultimate real in art and life. Theresa Schütz from the research project Reenacting Emotions at the Freie Universität Berlin points out parallels between simulative scenarios in VR and peformative installations and how they affect emotions. Oliver Proske from the award-winning theatre group Nico and the Navigators is currently researching new camera technologies for the broad transfer of performers also for VR. Janne Nora Kummer and Max Gadow of the performance collective virtuellestheater e.V. are going to speak about their notion of virtuality and how they translate it into their work.

The Performersion is a workshop-centered cooperation between the Performing Arts Programm Berlin and the re:publica and will take place in 2018 and 2020 after its successfull first edition in 2016.