Virtual Interiorities: The Myth of Total Virtuality

by Vahid Vahdat (Contributor), Dave Gottwald (Editor), Gregory Turner-Rahman (Editor)

Contemporary virtual reality is often discussed in terms of popular consumer hardware. Yet the virtual we increasingly experience comes in many forms and is often more complex than wearable signifiers.This three-volume collection of essays examines the virtual beyond the headset. Virtual Interiorities offers multiple, sometimes unexpected entry points to virtuality—theme parks, video games, gyms, pilgrimage sites, theater, art installations, screens, drones, film, and even national identity. What all these virtual interiorities share are compelling cultural perspectives on distinct moments of environmental collision and collusion, liminality, and shifting modes of inhabitation, which challenge more conventional architectural conceptions of space. The Myth of Total Virtuality sets aside more common real/unreal spatial dichotomies in the literature to reinforce that the virtual is inherently an experience and not a representation. Each chapter examines a distinct experiential mode, whether within the built environment, an interactive digital world, or within film.

208 pages, Paperback

Published December 16, 2022