Beyond the physical threshold: enfolding theontology of Immersive Experience

Abstract

This doctoral thesis is the culmination of work conducted in the context of an interdisciplinary research project that has been practice-based yet theory-driven and contributes to the fields of fine art and architecture with a particular focus on critical theory. It seeks to map a shared theoretical vocabulary regarding the creation of space and to frame the language of an emergent art practice that is fundamentally architecturalised and constitutes lived experiences as temporal events within actual architectural settings: loci. In this context, the thesis sets out an ontological and topological perspective regarding the occurrence and operation of immersive experiences and sees the latter as more-than-visual localised events in a state of becoming rather than mere phenomena. The investigation expands the concept of immersion beyond a digitally constructed reality and sees the virtual as a complementary element of the actual for the formation of receptive atmospheres. The thesis attempts to establish a modality of an immersive spatial experience that is sensory, multiple as well as intimate in empirical terms, with reference to the philosophy of the event and particularly the complex spatial theories of Gilles Deleuze.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton