Negotiating the World of Make-believe: The Aesthetic Compass
- 作者：Nadin ; Mihai
- 刊名：Real-Time Imaging
- 出版年：1995
- 期刊代码：143_10772014
- 类别：cp
- 出版时间：August, 1995
- 卷：1
- 期：3
- 页码：173-190
- 文件大小：3.53 M
摘要
Regardless of how far one stretches the definition of virtual reality (VR) (hopefully not so far as to negate its scientific and technological identity), the field is one of high expectations and of many yet unattained goals (technical, scientific, communicational). Some of its hardware (the headset, the glove) indeed became available at bearable prices (as promised by the early innovative entrepreneurs). Tools for building VR applications help in the design and implementation of new products deployed in hard-core science research or, at the other end of the spectrum, in wide-audience entertainment. Progress in the design and production of faster processors, better I/O (i.e., increased bandwidth and speed), and simple, more robust operating systems lead many to predict that the maturity of computer technology will be established in the high performance specific to the domain of virtual reality. However, an issue more significant to the ascertainment and viability of VR has yet to be approached: the crudeness, not to say ugliness, of its means of expression, in particular, of its visual component. The disparity between technological progress, culturally acknowledged formal qualities translated into VR components, and the ability to generate new expressive forms of distinction is undermining the field. The more one has the chance to experience new virtual realities, some extremely ingenious from a computational viewpoint, the more one fears that the medium is under the curse of submediocrity, at least in respect to its aesthetic condition. One of the theses of this article is that in the VR domain, as in any other form of human activity, the efficiency of the activity depends upon its underlying aesthetics. The degree of acceptance of new scientific and technological means, methods, and perspectives reflects expectations of human practice more than anything else. The aesthetic component, as difficult to formalize and encode as it is, affects the legitimacy of innovative endeavors, which VR definitely is, by ultimately affecting its efficiency. Hype and hope mix easily in reality, but even more in the realm of the virtual. The expectation of a strict definition of VR might seem an issue of academic interest only. But once we address the encompassing aspect of effectiveness in this field — effectiveness being its raison d'être — we rapidly understand that specificity, i.e., precise scientific and epistemological identity, is reflected in design expectations and requirements for VR applications. These can be seen as instantiations of aesthetic exigencies.