VR for Experiential Research and Archiving
Kyueun Kim, Theatre
Faculty Advisor: Peter Eckersall
In my project “VR for Experiential Research and Archiving,” I will use VR in two ways. In addition to exploring how artists use VR in their performances, I will deploy VR as a method to explore, expand, and examine theoretical questions relating to VR. I will use the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset and conduct a series of interviews with VR artists via “social VR” platforms (e.g., Altspace VR, VR Chat, or Spatial). Through the interviews, I will explore what kinds of different experiences are generated in virtual environments and what the implications of this are for my research. For example, do interviews with VR artists in VR create new epistemologies that are expanded in the sense that VR claims to expand human senses and experience? How might a sense of co-presence in virtual environments affect the (trans)formation of subjectivity and (virtual) community? The VR interview materials will be archived using VR Capture and included as a digital appendix to my dissertation. The project will be supported by the 2022 – 2023 Art and Science Connect Research Fellowship.
