Vision science and the visual arts: an enquiry into the science of perception and the art of immersion

Nolan, Lucille Marie (2009) Vision science and the visual arts: an enquiry into the science of perception and the art of immersion. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

ABSTRACT This research addresses questions surrounding two currently prominent visual art topics. The first revolves around the concept of immersion and perceptions of immersive art, the second concerns current interests in art and science and the practice of art and science collaboration. Current debates and theories of immersion revolve around technologically informed virtual models and interactive virtual art environments, however, the history of immersion as a creative medium has been traced to pre-technological, even pre-historical beginnings. In this study, a pre- technological concept of immersion per se is explored, and a new perceptual model of immersion is developed based on the scientific laws and principles of vision. This model is shown to encompass and a long history of immersive traditions and a type of contemporary art practice that until now was not recognised as an immersive art genre. Working at the interstices of visual immersive art and visual science disciplines, collaborative experimental environments are developed that embody both the concepts and definitions proposed in the thesis, and the scientific laws and principles on which they are founded. Pre-technological/visual and contemporary/virtual concepts are further distinguished by their respective scientific and technological alignments and by the types of perceptual phenomena they engender. It is shown that as a creative medium, immersion comprises scientifically informed visual and technologically informed virtual immersive sub-genres, which together provide a broader and more comprehensive account of historical and contemporary immersive art practice.

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