[ecrea] IJPADM CfP: Performance and VR Practice

/International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media/

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpdm20/current


*Special Issue Call for Papers:
**Performance and VR Practice; New Work for New Environments*

Guest editors: Sophy Smith and Kerry Francksen

*DEADLINE: 31st January 2018*
Full manuscripts should be submitted online: 
http://www.edmgr.com/rpdm/default.aspx
Publication: Autumn 2018 in Volume 14, Issue 2

The /International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media/ is 
seeking contributions for a special issue on Performance and VR Practice.

Virtual Reality technologies have a long and established history. As 
Oliver Grau recognizes in his seminal text Virtual Art: From Illusion to 
Immersion (2003), “the idea of installing an observer in a hermetically 
closed-off image space of illusion did not make its first appearance 
with the technical invention of computerised virtual realities. On the 
contrary, VR forms part of the core of the relationship of humans to 
images” (Grau, 2003: 4-5). Such is our fascination with creating 
“illusionary spaces” (ibid.), it is understandable that artists and 
technologist have spent the last few decades exploring how technologies, 
such as VR, can enable us to extend beyond our own reality towards 
immersive and illusionary theatrical experiences. Since the 1980’s, when 
VR was first used in a performative context, beyond its application in 
industry, artists and scholars have continued to challenge notions of 
what is ‘real’ and what is ‘virtual’; they have challenged concepts of 
transcendence, simulation, immersion, materiality, alternate realities, 
hybrid or mixed realities to name but a few. The use of VR has therefore 
been important for opening up perspectives and for developing new 
performance paradigms. Yet, whilst the use of VR over the last three 
decades has been focused and rigorous, it has not been as widely adopted 
as other technological tools (such as gesture/motion-sensing systems or 
live video and projection mapping systems) have been. This is largely 
due to practical concerns and the availability of such a complex 
technology. However, over the last few years, VR technologies have made 
a reemergence, not only in terms of affordability, but because the 
continued advances in design and usability are making it increasingly 
possible for artists to access and explore its potential.

In 2017, Sony released the Play Station VR headset, enabling high 
quality VR technologies to be accessed at home. Google cardboard and 
other VR -goggles enable users to access VR content through their 
smartphone and 360 streaming is available on Youtube. In response to 
this, a greater number of performance practitioners have begun to 
explore how such VR technologies can be used. For instance, 2017 has a 
seen the premier of a number of new examples of VR performance work, 
some made by independent artists and others by established organisations 
including AoE’s Whist, Boleslavsky? and Júdoká’s Dust (supported by 
Rambert/V&A), Makropol & Bombina’s The Shared Individual and a new VR 
film by the English National Ballet, inspired by Akram Khan’s Giselle. 
As its use continues to increase, this special issue wishes to examine 
how, and in what ways, VR is continuing to have an impact on current 
performance works. For example, some artists are using VR technologies 
to reimagine existing performance work, others to offer new perspectives 
on performance making, and others who are exploring new relationships 
with their audiences.

This raises a number of interesting and timely questions relating to the 
impact and influence of VR technologies on creative processes and the 
nature of the work made - In what ways are current VR technologies 
helping artists to re-imagine their practice? What new work is being 
created and is this having an impact on professional performance 
practice? In what ways have current VR technologies and practices 
extended concepts such as, transcendence, simulation, immersion, 
materiality, alternate realities etc? How might the use of VR 
technologies open up new models and/or possibilities for collaboration 
between artists and technologists? What new performance environments are 
being created within VR and how might this change how audiences access 
and engage with professional performance? How can VR enable audiences to 
engage with performance work in new ways, both collectively and 
individually? What can VR offer professional performance practice that a 
traditional ‘live’ experience cannot? What can we learn from emerging VR 
practice across other sectors to inform and extend professional 
performance practice as a whole?

We invite full essays of between 5,000 and 8,000 words or artistic 
position papers of between 2,000 and 3,000 words.  We would particularly 
welcome practice-as-research contributions that experiment with content 
and form, while maintaining a rigorous enquiry into their disciplinary 
frameworks. Contributions might consider (but are not limited to) the 
following topics:

• New paradigms of performance offered by VR

• Live 360 streaming

• Choreographing/directing for VR

• VR and the collective experience of performance

• Role of the audience/participant in VR performance

• Participant experience

• Notions of performance

• Constructions of narrative

• Ethics of VR Performance

• VR and theatre design


Essays should be formatted according to the Routledge journal style.

Please contact Sophy Smith at <(ssmith05 /at/ dmu.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(ssmith05 /at/ dmu.ac.uk)>> and/or Kerry Francksen at 
<(kerryfk1 /at/ hotmail.co.uk) <mailto:(kerryfk1 /at/ hotmail.co.uk)>> if you have any 
queries.**

/Guest Editors: Prof. Sophy Smith and Dr Kerry Francksen, Directors of 
DAPPER (Digital Arts Performance Practice - Emerging Research), De 
Montfort University. DAPPER is a space where people working in all areas 
of digital performance can come together – practitioners, technologists, 
academics, organisations and all those in-between – to capture, share, 
discuss, experiment and develop work and ideas relating to digital art 
and performance. It is our contention that whilst many individuals work 
within their own specialist area or sector, innovation occurs when we 
have the opportunity to collaborate and cooperate with others. Digital 
art performance practices are emerging as a response to a fast moving 
technological landscape and as artists adapt to these new paradigms it 
is clear that digital practices are having a profound effect on the ways 
in which we make and understand our work. DAPPER aims to provide a space 
to focus on and interrogate the range of inter/transdisciplinary 
approaches specifically from the perspective of artistic process and 
practice. DAPPER runs Knowledge Exchange and Professional Practice 
events. In 2017-8 these have included practice-based digital performance 
residencies at Waterman’s Arts Centre as part of Digital Weekender and 
De Montfort University, offering spaces for experimentation and dialogue 
for professional practitioners in open creative space, and 2 
cross-sector development events, exploring the practices of narrative 
development in virtual environments and sharing of current practices./

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