The technologies of Virtual Reality, and the related mediums of Extended, xR and Augmented Reality – are now sufficiently developed that they are now accessible for artists, designers and the general public. Yet it remains an emerging field of study, and what constitutes ‘virtuality’ is still open to debate. At the Royal College of Art, practitioners and staff from across the Schools have been engaging with the technologies of virtual and augmented reality, expanded or immersive media – in often highly experimental ways, signalled by the term 'alterity'

The VR+A symposium + manifestation brings together the research and practice of Royal College of Art staff from across the Schools of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, Communication and Design and the college's Research Centres.

Symposium Schedule

9:30 Registration and Coffee

10.00 Introduction

10:15 Opening Keynote: Mandy Rose, Director, Digital Cultures Research Centre, UWE Bristol

10:45 Alterity 1, Sensations chaired by Indira Knight and Bruna Petreca

Dr Bruna Petreca, Grant Petrey, Dr Nikoleta Yiannoutsou (UCL)

12:30 Break

13:30 Alterity 2, Projections chaired by Claudia Dutson and Dr Vali Lalioti

Dr Vali Lalioti, Moad Musbahi, Dr Bjorn Sommer, Manja van de Worp

15:00 Coffee

15:30 Alterity 3, Subjectivities chaired by Eleanor Dare

Katerina Athanasopoulou, Dr Eleanor Dare, Professor Johnny Golding, Dr Mike Golembewski

17:00 Closing Discussion

17:45 Symposium Close

18:00 Manifestation Close

Symposium:

The symposium has invited a critical reflection on practice and theory from Royal College of Art staff from across the Schools of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, Communication and Design and the college's Research Centres on the deployment of VR, AR and XR and other mediums/technologies.

The symposium is organised around three alterities:

Other Sensations

This stream collects together thinking around non visual senses and xR. How senses such as touch, sound, smell, taste, vestibular, proprioception and thermoception affect the meaning of the experience and the person in it. How other sensations are used in conjunction with the visual and each other. Why they are used and how they disrupt the traditional thinking around xR.

Chaired by Indira Knight, Research Associate, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design Research, and Bruna Petreca, Research Fellow in Human Experience and Materials, Burberry Material Futures Research Group.

Other Projections

This stream explores the alterity of perspectives and perceptions of space in virtual, augmented and extended realities – reflections and provocations on architecture, environment, city and exhibition, or drawing, rendering, and the media of representing and experiencing space.

Chaired by Claudia Dutson, Tutor (Research) Design Products, School of Design / Senior Tutor (Research) Information Experience Design, School of Communication and Vali Lalioti, Senior Tutor (Research) Global Innovation Design , School of Design.

Other Subjectivities

Much has been made of VR’s immersivity and apparently limitless capacity to generate ‘empathy’. This stream invites critical engagement with, and a challenge to the rhetorics of empathy, choice and immersivity which have grown around VR, and which other subjectives and stories should be articulated through it?

Chaired by Eleanor Dare, Acting HoP, Digital Direction, School of Communication.

Manifestations:

A small number of ‘manifestations’ will be exhibited outside the Lecture Theatre on the day of the symposium until Friday 10th May. These include current practice by Royal College of Art staff participating in the VR+A symposium from Claudia Dutson, Moad Musbahi, Bjorn Sommer,