Panel Statement

Panel: Body Matters

In immersive virtual space, the subjectively-experienced body plays a central role, largely neglected due to cultural bias. In Osmose, a work-in-progress, Char Davies has developed an interactive aesthetic beyond conventional virtual reality whereby intuitive breathing and balance act as chiasmatic links between body and world, leading the “immersant” into a receptive state of being which profoundly affects experience of the work. The author will discuss the theory behind her approach, including insights from diving in deep oceanic space.

• Charlotte Davies, (Canada). Born in Toronto, she is currently Director of Visual Research at SOFTIMAGE (Montreal) and has exhibited in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia receiving the Prix Distinction (computer images) at Ars Electronica ’93. Her current areas of research are real-time interactive and immersive computer-generated environments and the history and philosophy of ‘Nature’.