Infra-thin Magick: An Extended Reality (XR) Ceremony, by Paula Strunden

Paula Strunden guides into the space between physical and virtual reality in her Extended Reality (XR) installation *Infra-thin Magick* presented as part of the TACK Exhibition “Unausgesprochenes Wissen / Unspoken Knowledge / Le (savoir) non-dit”, from 19 to 21 June 2023 at ETH Zürich. Through ritualistic practices comparable to a rite of passage, this XR installation introduces one visitor at a time to interact with a series of objects – called infra-thin instruments – that can only be seen in digital space but can be touched in real space, and thus act as mediators between haptic and visual perception, between reality and imagination.

It is well known that spatial perception is multi-sensory, and the interplay of our senses goes beyond the cross-fertilization of sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. Yet architectural design tools only touch the surface of what we can feel regarding our spatial environments, such as our sense of gravity, balance and orientation, our ability to feel time passing, or our knowledge of where each of our body parts is without having to look at them. Some of these “always-there-but-never-felt” sensations can be physically experienced when we enter an immersive virtual environment. As our brain adjusts to these novel surroundings, we can suddenly feel our senses at work. This performative extended reality model “Infra-thin Magick” allows you to experience how such insights can be purposefully evoked by displacing and reassembling the components constituting your multimodal and synaesthetic spatial perception. It invites you to co-create embodied spatiality through active participation and play.

From 19.6.2023–21.6.2023, you can book your 20-minute timeslot HERE.

Venue:
ArchENA, HIL D57.1
ETH Hönggerberg
8049 Zürich